THE CANARY ISLANDS 



BY THE SAME ARTIST AND AUTHOR 



THE 

FLOWERS AND GARDENS 
OF JAPAN 

Containing 50 full-page illustrations in colour 

THE 

FLOWERS AND GARDENS 
OF MADEIRA 

Containing 24 full-page illustrations in colour 

By ELLA DU CANE 
And RICHARD BAGOT 

THE ITALIAN LAKES 

Containing 68 full-page illustrations in colour 



Published by A. & C Black, Soho Square, London, W. 



AGENTS 

AMERICA . . THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

64 & 66 Fifth Avenue, NEW YORK 

AUSTRALASIA . OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 

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OAHAEA , . . THE MACMILLAN COMPANY OF CANADA LTD. 

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inula .... macmillan & company ltd. 

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309 Bow Bazaar Street, CALCUTTA 



A PATIO 



THE 

CANARY ISLANDS 

PAINTED BY 

ELLA DU CANE 

DESCRIBED BY 

FLORENCE DU CANE 




LONDON 
ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK 
1911 



/ 



CONTENTS 
i 

TENERIFFE 

II 

TENERIFFE {continued) 

III 

TENERIFFE {continued) 

IV 

TENERIFFE {continued) 

V 

TENERIFFE {continued) 

I 

TENERIFFE {continued) 

VII 

TENERIFFE {continued) 



t 



CANARY ISLANDS 



i 

TENERIFFE 

Probably many people have shared my feeling of 
disappointment on landing at Santa Cruz. I had 
long ago realised that few places come up to the 
standard of one's preconceived ideas, so my mental 
picture was not in this case a very beautiful one ; 
but even so, the utter hideousness of the capital 
of Teneriffe was a shock to me. 

Unusually clear weather at sea had shown us 
our first glimpse of the Peak, rising like a phantom 
mountain out of the clouds when 100 miles distant, 
but as we drew nearer to land the clouds had 
gathered, and the cone was wrapped in a mantle of 
mist. There is no disappointment attached to 
one's first impression of the Island as seen from the 
sea. The jagged range of hills seemed to come 
sheer down to the coast, and appeared to have been 

1 A 



2 



CANARY ISLANDS 



torn and rent by some extraordinary upheaval of 
Nature ; the deep ravines (or barrancos as I after- 
wards learnt to call them) were full of dark blue 
mysterious shadows, a deeply indented coast-line 
stretched far away in the distance, and 1 thought 
the land well deserved to be called one of the 
Fortunate Islands. 

Santa Cruz, or to give it its full title, Santa Cruz 
de Santiago, though one of the oldest towns in the 
Canaries, looked, as our ship glided into the harbour, 
as though it had been built yesterday, or might 
even be still in course of construction. Lying low 
on the shore the flat yellow-washed houses, with 
their red roofs, are thickly massed together, the 
sheer ugliness of the town being redeemed by the 
spires of a couple of old churches, which look down 
reprovingly on the modern houses below. Arid 
slopes rise gradually behind the town, and appear 
to be utterly devoid of vegetation. Perched on a 
steep ridge is the Hotel Quisisana, which cannot 
be said to add to the beauty of the scene, and 
all my sympathy went out to those who were 
condemned to spend a winter in such desolate 
surroundings in search of health. 

Probably no foreign town is entirely devoid of 



TENERIFFE 



3 



interest to the traveller. On landing, the picturesque 
objects which meet the eye make one realise that 
once one's foot has left the last step of the gangway 
of the ship, England and everything English has 
been left behind. The crowd of swarthy loafers 
who lounge about the quay in tight yellow or white 
garments, are true sons of a southern race, and 
laugh and chatter gaily with handsome black-eyed 
girls. Sturdy country women are settling heavy 
loads on their donkeys, preparatory to taking their 
seat on the top of the pack for their journey over 
the hills. Their peculiar head-dress consists of a 
tiny straw hat, no larger than a saucer, which acts 
as a pad for the loads they carry on their heads, 
from which hangs a large black handkerchief either 
fluttering in the wind, or drawn closely round the 
shoulders like a shawl. 

Here and there old houses remain, dating from 
the days when the wine trade was at its zenith, 
and though many have now been turned into con- 
sulates and shipping offices, they stand in reproach- 
ful contrast to the buildings run up cheaply at a 
later date. Through many an open doorway one 
gets a glimpse of these cool spacious old houses, 
whose broad staircases and deep balconies surround 



4 



CANARY ISLANDS 



a shady patio or court-yard. On the ground floor 
the wine was stored and the living rooms opened 
into the roomy balconies on the first floor. Here 
and there a small open Plaza, where drooping 
pepper trees shade stone seats, affords breathing- 
space, but over all and everything was a thick 
coating of grey dust, which gave a squalid appear- 
ance to the town. Narrow ill-paved streets, up 
which struggle lean, over-worked mules, dragging 
heavy rumbling carts, lead out of the town, and I 
was thankful to shake the dust of Santa Cruz off 
my feet; not that one does, as unless there has 
been very recent rain the dust follows everywhere. 
An electric tramway winds its way up the slopes 
behind the town at a very leisurely pace, giving 
one ample time to survey the scene. 

The only vegetation which looks at home in 
the dry dusty soil is prickly pear, a legacy of 
the cochineal culture. In those halcyon days 
arid spots were brought into cultivation and the 
cactus planted everywhere. In the eighteenth 
century the islanders had merely regarded cochineal 
as a loathsome form of blight, and it was for- 
bidden to be landed for fear it should spoil their 
prickly pears, but prejudice was overcome, and 



TENERIFFE 



5 



when it was realised that a possible source of 
wealth was to be found in the cultivation of 
the cactus, Opuntia coccinellifera, which is the 
most suited to the insect, the craze began. Land 
was almost unobtainable ; the amount of labour 
was enormous which was expended in breaking up 
the lava to reach the soil below, in terracing hills 
wherever it was possible to terrace ; property was 
mortgaged to buy new fields ; in fact, the islanders 
thought their land was as good as a gold-mine. 
The following figures are given by Mr. Samler 
Brown to show the extraordinary rapidity with 
which the trade developed. "In 1831 the first 
shipment was 8 lb., the price at first being about 
ten pesetas a lb. ; in ten years it had increased 
to 100,566 lb., and in 1869 the highest total, 
6,076,869 lb., with a value of £789,993." The 
rumour of the discovery of aniline dyes alarmed 
the islanders, but for a time they were not 
sufficiently manufactured seriously to affect the 
cochineal trade, though the fall in prices began to 
make merchants talk of over-production. The 
crisis came in 1874, when the price in London fell 
to Is. 6d. or 2s. , and the ruin to the cochineal 
industry was a foregone conclusion. Aniline 



6 



CANARY ISLANDS 



dyes had taken the public taste, and though 
cochineal has been proved to be the only red 
dye to resist rain and hard wear, the demand 
is now small, and merchants who had bought 
up and stored the dried insect were left with 
unsaleable stock on their hands. Retribution, we 
are told, was swift, sudden, and universal, and 
the farmer who had spent so much on bringing 
land into cultivation foot by foot, realised that 
the cactus must be rooted up or he must face 
starvation. 

Possibly there are many other people as ignorant 
as I was myself on my first visit to the Canaries 
on the subject of cochineal. Beyond the fact that 
cochineal was a red dye and used occasionally as 
a colouring-matter in cooking, I could not safely 
have answered any question concerning it. I was 
much disgusted at finding that it is really the 
blood of an insect which looks like a cross between 
a " wood-louse " and a <c mealy-bug," with a fat 
body rather like a currant. The most common 
method of cultivation, I believe, was to allow the 
insect to attach itself to a piece of muslin in the 
spring, which was then laid on to a box full of 
" mothers " in a room at a very high temperature. 



TENERIFFE 



7 



The muslin was then fastened on to the leaf of the 
cactus by means of the thorns of the wild prickly 
pear. When once attached to the leaf the madre 
cannot move again. There were two different 
methods of killing the insect to send it to market, 
one by smoking it with sulphur and the other by 
shaking it in sacks. A colony of the insects on a 
prickly pear leaf looks like a large patch of lumpy 
blight, most unpleasant, and enough to make any 
one say they would never again eat anything 
coloured with cochineal. 

This terraced land is now cultivated with pota- 
toes and tomatoes for the English market, but the 
shower of gold in which every one shared in the 
days of the cochineal boom is no more, though the 
banana trade in other parts of the island seems 
likely to revive those good old days. 

La Laguna, about five miles above Santa Cruz, 
is one of the oldest towns in Teneriffe ; it was the 
stronghold of the Guanches and the scene of the 
most desperate fighting with the Spanish invaders. 
To-day it looks merely a sleepy little town, but can 
boast of several fine old churches, besides the old 
Convente de San Augustin which has been turned 
into the official seat of learning, containing a very 



8 



CANARY ISLANDS 



large public library, and the Bishop's Palace which 
has a fine old stone facade. The cathedral appears 
to be in a perpetual state of repairing or rebuilding, 
and though begun in 1513 is not yet completed. 
One of the principal sights of La Laguna is the 
wonderful old Dragon tree in the garden of the 
Seminaryattached to the Church of Santo Domingo, 
of which the age is unknown. The girth of its 
trunk speaks for itself of its immense age, and 1 
was not surprised to hear that even in the fifteenth 
century it was a sufficiently fine specimen to cause 
the land on which it stood to be known as " the 
farm of the Dragon tree." 

Foreigners regard the town chiefly as being a 
good centre for expeditions, which, judging by the 
list in our guide-book, are almost innumerable. 
One ride into the beautiful pine forest of La Mina 
should certainly be undertaken, and unless the 
smooth clay paths are slippery after rain the walk- 
ing is easy. After a long stay in either Santa 
Cruz or even Orotava, where large trees are rare, 
there is a great enchantment in finding oneself 
once more among forest trees, and what splendid 
trees are these native pines, Tinas canarienm, and 
in damp spots one revels in the ferns and mosses, 



TENERIFFE 



9 



which form such a contrast to the vegetation one 
has grown accustomed to. 

Alexander von Humboldt who spent a few days 
in Teneriffe, on his way to South America, landing 
in Santa Cruz on June 19, 1799, was much struck 
by the contrast of the climate of La Laguna to 
that of Santa Cruz. The following is an extract 
from his account of the journey he made across the 
island in order to ascend the Peak: "As we 
approached La Laguna, we felt the temperature 
of the atmosphere gradually become lower. This 
sensation was so much the more agreeable, as 
we found the air of Santa Cruz very oppressive. 
As our organs are more affected by disagreeable 
impressions, the change of temperature becomes 
still more sensible when we return from Laguna 
to the port, we seem then to be drawing near the 
mouth of a furnace. The same impression is felt 
when, on the coast of Caracas, we descend from 
the mountain of Avila to the port of La Guayra. 
. . . The perpetual coolness which prevails at La 
Laguna causes it to be regarded in the Canaries as 
a delightful abode. 

" Situated in a small plain, surrounded by gar- 
dens, protected by a hill which is crowned by a 



10 



CANARY ISLANDS 



wood of laurels, myrtles and arbutus, the capital of 
TenerifFe is very beautifully placed. We should be 
mistaken if, relying on the account of some travel- 
lers, we believed it rested on the border of a lake. 
The rain sometimes forms a sheet of water of con- 
siderable extent, and the geologist, who beholds 
in everything the past rather than the present state 
of nature, can have no doubt but that the whole 
plain is a great basin dried up." 

" Laguna has fallen from its opulence, since the 
lateral eruptions of the volcano have destroyed the 
port of Garachico, and since Santa Cruz has become 
the central point of the commerce of the island. 
It contains only 9000 inhabitants, of whom nearly 
400 are monks, distributed in six convents. The 
town is surrounded with a great number of wind- 
mills, which indicate the cultivation of wheat in 
these higher countries. ..." 

" A great number of chapels, which the Spaniards 
call ermitas, encircle the town of Laguna. Shaded 
by trees of perpetual verdure, and erected on small 
eminences, these chapels add to the picturesque 
effect of the landscape. The interior of the town 
is not equal to the external appearance. The houses 
are solidly built but very antique, and the streets 



TENERIFFE 



11 



seem deserted. A botanist should not complain of 
the antiquity of the edifices, as the roofs and walls 
are covered with Canary house leek and those 
elegant tricliomanes mentioned by every traveller. 
These plants are nourished by the abundant 
mists. ..." 

" In winter the climate of Laguna is extremely 
foggy, and the inhabitants complain often of the 
cold. A fall of snow, however, has never been seen, 
a fact which may seem to indicate that the mean 
temperature of this town must be above 15° R., 
that is to say higher than that of Naples. ..." 

" I was astonished to find that M. Broussonet 
had planted in the midst of this town in the garden 
of the Marquis de Nava, the bread-fruit tree (Arto- 
carpus incise) and cinnamon trees (Laurus cinna- 
monum). These valuable productions of the South 
Sea and the East Indies are naturalised there as 
well as at Orotava." 

The most usual route to Tacoronte en route to 
Orotava, the ultimate destination of most travellers, 
is by the main road or carretera, which reaches 
the summit of the pass shortly after leaving 
La Laguna, at a height of 2066 feet. The re- 
deeming feature of the otherwise uninteresting 



12 



CANARY ISLANDS 



road is the long avenue of eucalyptus trees, which 
gives welcome shade in summer. If time and 
distance are of no account, and the journey is 
being made by motor, the lower road by Tejina is 
far preferable. The high banks of the lanes are 
crowned with feathery old junipers, in spring the 
grassy slopes are gay with wild flowers, and here 
and there stretches of yellow broom (spartium 
junceum) fill the air with its delicious scent. 
Turns in the road reveal unexpected glimpses of 
the Peak on the long descent to the little village 
of Tegueste, and below lies the church of Tejina, 
only a few hundred feet above the sea. Here the 
road turns and ascends again to Tacoronte, and the 
Peak now faces one, the cone often rising clear 
above a bank of clouds which covers the base. 

At Tacoronte the tram-line ends and either a 
carriage or motor takes the traveller over the re- 
maining fifteen miles down through the fertile valley 
to Puerto Orotava. The valley is justly famous for 
its beauty, and in clear winter weather, when the 
Peak has a complete mantle of snow, no one can 
refrain from exclaiming at the beauty of the scene, 
when at one bend of the road the whole valley 
lies stretched at one's feet, bathed in sunshine 



ALMOND BLOSSOM, VALLEY OF OROTAVA 



TENERIFFE 



13 



and enclosed in a semi-circle of snow-capped 
mountains. The clouds cast blue shadows on the 
mountain sides, and here and there patches of 
white mist sweep across the valley ; the dark pine 
woods lie in sharp contrast to the brilliant colouring 
of the chestnut woods whose leaves have been 
suddenly turned to red gold by frost in the higher 
land. In the lower land broad stretches of banana 
fields are interspersed with ridges of uncultivated 
ground, where almond, fig trees and prickly pears 
still find a home, and clumps of the native Canary 
palm trees wave their feathery heads in the wind. 
Small wonder that even as great a traveller as 
Humboldt was so struck with the beauty of the 
scene that he is said to have thrown himself on his 
knees in order to salute the sight as the finest in 
the world. Without any such extravagant demon- 
stration as that of the great traveller, it is worth 
while to stop and enjoy the view ; though, to be 
sure, carriages travel at such a leisurely rate in 
Teneriffe, one has ample time to survey the scene. 
The guardian-angel of the valley — the Peak — 
dominates the broad expanse of land and sea, in 
times of peace, a placid broad white pyramid. But 
at times the mountain has become angry and waved 



14 



CANARY ISLANDS 



a flaming sword over the land, and for this reason 
the Guanches christened it the Pico de Teide or 
Hell, though they appear to have also regarded it 
as the Seat of the Deity. 

Humboldt himself describes the scene in the 
following words : " The valley of Tacoronte is the 
entrance into that charming country, of which 
travellers of every nation have spoken with rap- 
turous enthusiasm. Under the torrid zone I found 
sites where Nature is more majestic and richer in 
the display of organic forms ; but after having 
traversed the banks of the Orinoco, the Cordilleras 
of Peru, and the most beautiful valleys of Mexico, 
1 own that I have never beheld a prospect more 
varied, more attractive, more harmonious in the 
distribution of the masses of verdure and rocks, 
than the western coast of Teneriffe. 

" The sea-coast is lined with date and cocoa trees ; 
groups of the musa, as the country rises, form a 
pleasing contrast with the dragon tree, the trunks 
of which have been justly compared to the tortuous 
form of the serpent. The declivities are covered 
with vines, which throw their branches over tower- 
ing poles. Orange trees loaded with flowers, 
myrtles and cypress trees encircle the chapels 



TENERIFFE 



15 



reared to devotion on the isolated hills. The 
divisions of landed property are marked by hedges 
formed of the agave and the cactus. An in- 
numerable number of cryptogamous plants, among 
which ferns most predominate, cover the walls, and 
are moistened by small springs of limpid water. 

" In winter, when the volcano is buried under ice 
and snow, this district enjoys perpetual spring. In 
summer as the day declines, the breezes from the 
sea diffuse a delicious freshness. . . . 

" From Tegueste and Tacoronte to the village of 
San Juan de la Rambla (which is celebrated for its 
excellent Malmsey wine) the rising hills are culti- 
vated like a garden. I might compare them to the 
environs of Capua and Valentia, if the western part 
of Teneriffe were not infinitely more beautiful on 
account of the proximity of the Peak, which pre- 
sents on every side a new point of view. 

" The aspect of this mountain is interesting, not 
merely from its gigantic mass ; it excites the mind, 
by carrying it back to the mysterious source of its 
volcanic agency. For thousands of years no flames 
or light have been perceived on the summit of the 
Piton, nevertheless enormous lateral eruptions, the 
last of which took place in 1798, are proofs of the 



16 



CANARY ISLANDS 



activity of a fire still far from being extinguished. 
There is also something that leaves a melancholy 
impression on beholding a crater in the centre of a 
fertile and well-cultivated country. The history of 
the globe tells us that volcanoes destroy what they 
have been a long series of ages in creating. Islands 
which the action of submarine fires has raised above 
the water, are by degrees clothed in rich and smiling 
verdure ; but these new lands are often laid waste by 
the renewed action of the same power which caused 
them to emerge from the bottom of the ocean. Islets, 
which are now but heaps of scoriae and volcanic 
ashes, were once perhaps as fertile as the hills of 
Tacoronte and Sauzal. Happy the country where 
man has no distrust of the soil on which he lives." 

Low on the shore lies the little seaport town of 
Orotava, known as the Puerto to distinguish it from 
the older and more important Villa Orotava lying 
some three miles away inland, at a higher altitude. 
Further along the coast is San Juan de la Rambla, 
and on the lower slopes of the opposite wall of the 
valley are the picturesque villages of Realejo Alto 
and Bajo, while Icod el Alto is perched at the very 
edge of the dark cliffs of the Tigaia at a height of 
about 1700 ft. A gap in the further mountain 



TENERIFFE 



17 



range is known as the Portillo, the Fortaleza rises 
above this "gateway," and from this point begins 
the long gradual sweep of the Tigaia, which, from 
the valley, hides all but the very cone of the Peak. 
Above Villa Orotava towers Pedro Gil and the 
Montana Blanca, with the sun glittering on its 
freshly fallen snow, and near at hand are the villages 
of Sauzal, Santa Ursula, Matanza and La Victoria. 

Though Humboldt describes them as "smiling 
hamlets," he comments on their names which he 
says are "mingled together in all the Spanish 
colonies, and they form an unpleasing contract with 
the peaceful and tranquil feelings which these 
countries inspire. 

" Matanza signifies slaughter, or carnage, and the 
word alone recalls the price at which victory has 
been purchased. In the New World it generally 
indicates the defeat of the natives ; at Teneriffe the 
village Matanza was built in a place where the 
Spaniards were conquered by those same Guanches 
who soon after were sold as slaves in the markets 
of Europe." 

In early winter the terraced ridges, which are 
cultivated with wheat and potatoes, are a blot in 
the landscape, brown and bare, but in spring, after 



18 



CANARY ISLANDS 



the winter rains, these slopes will be transformed 
into sheets of emerald green, and it is then that the 
valley looks its best. For a few days, all too few, 
the almond trees are smothered with their delicate 
pale pink blooms, but one night's rain or a few 
hours' rough wind will scatter all their blossoms, 
and nothing will remain of their rosy loveliness but 
a carpet of bruised and fallen petals. 

The valley soon reveals traces of the upheavals of 
Nature in a bygone age ; broad streams of lava, 
which at some time poured down the valley, remain 
grey and desolate-looking, almost devoid of vegeta- 
tion, and the two cinder heaps or fumaroles re- 
sembling huge blackened mole-hills, though not 
entirely bare, cannot be admired. No one seems to 
know their exact history or age, but it appears 
pretty certain that they developed perfectly inde- 
pendently of any eruption of the Peak itself, 
though perhaps not "growing in a single night," 
as I was once solemnly assured they had done. One 
theory, which sounded not improbable, was that the 
bed of lava on which several English villas, the 
church and the Grand Hotel have been built, was 
originally spouted out of one of these cinder heaps, 
and the hill on which the hotel stands was in former 



STREET IN PUERTO ORQTAVA 



TENERIFFE 



19 



days the edge of the cliff. The lava is supposed to 
have flowed over the edge and accumulated to such 
a depth in the sea below that it formed the plateau of 
low-lying ground on which the Puerto now stands. 

The little town is not without attraction, though 
its streets are dusty and unswept, being only cleaned 
once a year, in honour of the Feast of Corpus 
Christi, on which day at the Villa carpets of 
elaborate design, arranged out of the petals of 
flowers, run down the centre of the streets where 
the processions are to pass. My first impression of 
the town was that it appeared to be a deserted city, 
hardly a foot passenger was to be seen, and my 
own donkey was the only beast of burden in the 
main street of the town. Gorgeous masses of 
bougainvillea tumbled over garden walls, and 
glimpses were to be seen through open doorways of 
creeper-clad patios. The carved balconies with 
their little tiled roofs are inseparable from all the 
old houses, more or less decorated according to the 
importance of the house. The soft green of the 
woodwork of the houses, and more especially of the 
solid green shutters or postijos, behind which the 
inhabitants seem to spend many hours gazing into 
the streets, was always a source of admiration to 



so 



CANARY ISLANDS 



me. The main street ends with the mole, and 
looking seawards the surf appears to dash up into 
the street itself. The town wakes to life when 
a cargo steamer comes into the port, and then one 
long stream of carts, drawn by the finest oxen I 
have ever seen, finds its way to the mole, to unload 
the crates of bananas which are frequently sold on 
the quay itself to the contractors. 



IT 



TENERIFFE (continued) 

About a thousand feet above the Puerto de 
Orotava, on the long gradual slope which sweeps 
down from Pedro Gil forming the valley of 
Orotava, lies the villa or town of Orotava. This 
most picturesque old town is of far more interest 
than the somewhat squalid port, being the home of 
many old Spanish families, whose beautiful houses 
are the best examples of Spanish architecture in 
the Canaries. Besides their quiet patios, which 
are shady and cool even on the hottest summer 
days, the exterior of many of the houses is most 
beautiful. The admirable work of the carved 
balconies and shutters, the iron- work and carved 
stone-work cannot fail to make every one admire 
houses which are rapidly becoming unique. The 
Spaniards have, alas ! like many other nations, lost 
their taste in architecture, and the modern houses 
which are springing up all too quickly make one 

21 



22 



CANARY ISLANDS 



shudder to contemplate. Some had been built to 
replace those which had been burnt, others were 
merely being built by men who had made a fortune 
in the banana trade. Not satisfied with their old 
solid houses, with their fine old stone doorways and 
overhanging wooden balconies, they are ruthlessly 
destroying them to build a fearsome modern mon- 
strosity, possibly more comfortable to live in, but 
most offending to the eye. The love of their 
gardens seems also to be dying out, and as I 
once heard some one impatiently exclaim, " They 
have no soul above bananas," and it is true that 
the culture of bananas is at the moment of all- 
absorbing interest. 

Though the patios of the houses may be decked 
with plants, the air being kept cool and moist by 
the spray of a tinkling fountain, many of the little 
gardens at the back of these old family mansions 
have fallen into a sad state of disorder and decay. 
The myrtle and box-hedges, formerly the pride of 
their owners, are no longer kept trim and shorn, 
and the little beds are no longer full of flowers. 
One garden remains to show how, when even 
slightly tended, flowers grow and flourish in the 
cooler air of the Villa. In former days a giant 



THE PEAK, FROM VILLA OROTAVA 



TENERIFFE 



chestnut tree was the pride of this garden, only its 
venerable trunk now remains to tell of its departed 
glories ; but the poyos (double walls) are full of 
flowers all the year, and the native Pico de paloma 
(Lotus Berthelotii) flourishes better here than in 
any other garden ; it drapes the walls and half 
smothers the steps and stone seats with its garlands 
of soft grey-green, and in spring is covered with its 
deep red " pigeons' beaks." The walls are gay with 
stocks, carnations, verbenas, lilies, geraniums, and 
hosts of plants. Long hedges of Libonia Jloribunda, 
the bandera rfEspana of the natives, as its red and 
yellow blossoms represent the national colours of 
Spain, line the entrance, and in unconsidered damp 
corners white arum lilies grow, the rather despised 
orejas de burros, or donkeys' ears, of the country 
people, who give rather apt nick-names to not only 
flowers, but people. 

Though the higher-class Spaniards are a most 
exclusive race, I met with nothing but civility from 
their hands when asking permission to see their 
patio or gardens ; as much cannot be said for 
the middle and lower classes of to-day, who are 
distinctly anti-foreign. The lower classes appear 
to regard an incessant stream of pennies as their 



24 



CANARY ISLANDS 



right, and hurl abuse or stones at your head when 
their persistent begging is ignored, and even 
tradesmen are often insolent to foreigners. A 
spirit of independence and republicanism is very 
apparent. An employer of labour can obviously 
keep no control over his men, who work when they 
choose, or more often don't work when they don't 
choose, and the mother or father of a family keeps 
no control over the children. One day I asked our 
gardener why he did not send his children to 
school to learn to read and write, as he was 
deploring that he could not read the names of the 
seeds he was sowing. I thought it was a good 
moment to point a moral, but he shrugged his 
shoulders, and said they did not care to go, and 
also they had no shoes and could not go to school 
barefoot. The man was living rent free, earning 
the same wages as an average English labourer, 
and two sons in work contributed to the expenses 
of the house, besides the money he got for the crop 
on a small piece of land which the whole family 
cultivated on Sundays, and still he could not 
afford to provide shoes in order that his children 
should learn to read and write. Another man 
announced with pride that one of his children 



TENERIFFE 



25 



attended school. Knowing he had two, I inquired, 
" Why only one ? " On which he owned that 
the other one used to go, but now she refused 
to do so, and neither he nor his wife could 
make her go. This independent person was aged 
nine ! 

One of the great curiosities of the Villa was the 
great Dragon Tree, and though it stands no more, 
visitors are still shown the site where it once stood 
and are told of its immense age. Humboldt gave 
the age of the tree at the time of his visit as being 
at least 6000 years, and though this may have been 
excessive, there is no doubt that it was of extreme 
age. It was blown down and the remains acci- 
dentally destroyed by fire in 1867, and only old 
engravings remain to tell of its wondrous size. 
The hollow trunk was large enough for a good 
sized room or cave, and in the days of the Guanches, 
when a national assembly was summoned to 
create a new chief or lord, the meeting place 
was at the great Dragon Tree. The land on 
which it stood was afterwards enclosed and became 
the garden of the Marques de Sauzal. 

The ceremony of initiating a lord was a curious 
one, and the Overlord of Taoro (the old name of 



26 



CANARY ISLANDS 



Orotava), was the greatest of these lords, having 
6000 warriors at his command. Though the dignity- 
was inherited, it was not necessary that it should 
pass from father to son, and more frequently passed 
from brother to brother. " When they raised one 
to be lord they had this custom. Each lordship 
had a bone of the most ancient lord in their 
lineage wrapped in skins and guarded. The most 
ancient councillors were convoked to the 'Tagoror,' 
or place of assembly. After his election the king 
was given this bone to kiss. After having kissed 
it he put it over his head. Then the rest of the 
principal people put it over his shoulder, and he 
said, 6 Agone yacoron ynatzahana Chaconamet ' 
(I swear by the bone on this day on which you 
have made me great). This was the ceremony of 
the coronation, and on the same day the people 
were called that they might know whom they had 
for their lord. He feasted them, and there were 
general banquets at the cost of the new lord and his 
relations. Great pomp appears to have surrounded 
these lords, and any one meeting them in the road 
when they progressed to change their summer 
residence in the mountains to one by the sea in 
winter, was expected to prostrate himself on the 



TENERIFFE 



27 



ground, and on rising to cleanse the king's feet 
with the edge of his coat of skins." (See " The 
Guanches of Teneriffe," by Sir Clement Markham.) 
After the conquest the Spaniards turned the 
temple of the Guanches into a chapel, and Mass was 
said within the tree. 

In the Villa are several fine old churches, whose 
spires and domes are her fairest adornment. The 
principal church is the Iglesia de 'la Concepcion, 
whose domes dominate the whole town. The 
exterior of the church is very fine, though the in- 
terior is not so interesting. It is curious to think 
how the silver communion plate, said to have 
belonged to St. Paul's Cathedral in London, can 
have come into the possession of this church. The 
theory that this and similar plate in the Cathedral 
at Las Palmas are the scattered remains of the 
magnificent church plate which was sold and dis- 
persed by the order of Oliver Cromwell is generally 
accepted. 

The fine old doorway and tower of the Convent 
and Church of Santo Domingo date from a time 
when the Spaniards had more soul for the beautiful 
than they have at the present time. 

The narrow steep cobbled streets are hardly any 



28 



CANARY ISLANDS 



of them without interest, and the old balconies, the 
carved shutters and glimpses of flowery patios, with 
a gorgeous mass of creeper tumbling over a garden 
wall or wreathing an old doorway, combine to make 
it a most picturesque town. A feature of almost 
every Spanish house is the little latticed hutch which 
covers the drip stone filter. In many an old house 
creepers and ferns, revelling in the dampness which 
exudes from the constantly wet stone, almost cover 
the little house, and even the stone itself grows 
maiden-hair or other ferns, and their presence is 
not regarded as interfering with the purifying 
properties of the stone, in which the natives place 
great faith. I never could believe that clean water 
could in any way benefit by being passed through 
the dirt of ages which must accumulate in these 
stones, there being no means of cleaning them 
except on the surface. The red earthenware water- 
pots of decidedly classical shape are made in every 
size, and a tiny child may be seen learning to carry 
a diminutive one on her head with a somewhat un- 
certain gait which she w r ill soon outgrow, and in 
a year or two will stride along carrying a large 
water-pot all unconscious of her load, leaving her 
two hands free to carry another burden. 



SAN DOMIIVGO, VILLA OROTAVA 



TENERIFFE 



29 



A charming walk or donkey-ride leads from the 
Villa along fairly level country to Realejo Alto, 
passing through the two little villages of La 
Perdoma and La Cruz Santa. In early spring the 
almond blossom gives a rosy tinge to many a 
stretch of rough uncultivated ground, and in the 
villages over the garden walls was wafted the heavy 
scent of orange blossoms. The trees at this altitude 
seemed freer of the deadly black blight which 
has ravaged all the orange groves on the lower 
land, and altogether the vegetation struck one as 
being more luxuriant and more forward. The 
cottage-garden walls were gay with flowers : stocks, 
mauve and white, the favourite alelis of the natives, 
long trails of geraniums and wreaths of Pico de 
paloma, pinks and carnations and hosts of other 
flowers I noticed as we rode past. 

The village of Realejo Alto is, without doubt, 
the most picturesque village I ever saw in the 
Canaries. Its situation on a very steep slope with 
the houses seemingly piled one above the other is 
very suggestive of an Italian mountain village. 
Part of the Church of San Santiago, the portion 
next the tower, is supposed to be the oldest church 
in the island, and the spire, the most prominent 



30 



CANARY ISLANDS 



feature of the village and neighbourhood, is worthy 
of the rest of the old church. The interior of the 
church is not without interest when seen in a 
good light, and a fine old doorway is said to 
be the work of Spanish workmen shortly after 
the conquest. The carved stone-work round this 
doorway and a very similar one in the lower village 
are unique specimens of this ~ style of work in the 
islands. 

The barranco which separates the upper and 
lower villages of Realejo was the scene of a great 
flood in 1820 which severely damaged both villages. 
Realejo Bajo, though not quite as picturesque as 
the upper village, is well worth a visit, and its in- 
habitants are justly proud of their Dragon Tree, 
a rival to the one at Icod which may possibly 
some day become as celebrated as the great tree 
at Orotava. 

These two villages are great centres of the 
calado or drawn-thread-work industry. Through 
every open doorway may be seen women and girls 
bending over the frames on which the work is 
stretched. It is mostly of very inferior quality, 
very coarsely worked and on poor material, and 
it seems a pity that there is no supply of better 



TENERIFFE 



31 



and finer work. Visitors get tired of the sight of 
the endless stacks of bed-covers and tea-cloths 
which are offered to them, and certainly the work 
compares badly both in price and quality with that 
done in the East. 



Ill 



TENERIFFE (continued) 

A spell of clear weather, late in February, made 
us decide to make an expedition to the Canadas, 
which, except to those who are bent on mountain 
climbing and always wish to get to the very top 
of every height they see, appeals to the ordinary 
traveller more than ascending the Peak itself. In 
spite of the promise of fine weather the day before, 
the morning broke cloudy and at dawn, 6 a.m., we 
started full of doubts and misgivings as to what 
the sunrise would bring. We had decided to drive 
as far as the road would allow, as we had been 
warned that we should find nine or ten hours' mule- 
riding would be more than enough, in fact, our 
friends were rather Job's comforters. Some said 
the expedition was so tiring that they had known 
people to be ill for a week after undertaking it. 
Others said it was never clear at the top, we must 
be prepared to be soaked to the skin in the mist, 

32 



TENERIFFE 



33 



for the mules to stumble and probably roll head 
over heels, in fact that strings of disasters were 
certain to overtake us. Our mules were to join 
us at Realejo Alto, about an hour's drive from the 
port, and there we determined we would decide 
whether we would continue, or content ourselves 
with a shorter expedition on a lower level. 

Sunrise did not improve the prospect, a heavy 
bank of clouds lay over Pedro Gil, while ominous 
drifts of light white clouds were gathering below 
the Tigaia, and the prospect out to sea was not 
more encouraging. The mules were late, in true 
Spanish fashion, and we consulted a few weather- 
wise looking inhabitants who gathered round our 
carriage in the Plaza, shivering in the morning air, 
with their mantas or blanket cloaks wrapped closely 
round them. They looked pityingly at these mad 
foreigners who had left their beds at such an hour 
when they were not forced to — for the Spaniard is 
no early riser — and were proposing to ride up into 
the clouds. The optimistic members of the party 
said : " It is nothing but a little morning mist," 
while the pessimist remarked, " Morning mists 
make mid-day clouds in my experience." 

The arrival of the mules put an end to further 



34 



CANARY ISLANDS 



discussion. The muleteers were full of hope and 
confident that the clouds would disperse, or any- 
way that we should get above the region of cloud 
and find clear weather at the top, so though our 
old blanket-coated friend murmured " Pobrecitas 99 
(poor things) below his breath, we made a start 
armed with wraps for the wet and cold we were to 
encounter. The clattering of the mules as we rode 
up the steep village street brought many heads to 
the windows ; the little green shutters, or postijos, 
were hastily pushed open to enable the crowd, 
which appeared to inhabit every house, to catch a 
sight of the " Inglezes" Inquiry as to where we 
were bound for, I noticed, generally brought an 
exclamation of " Very bad weather " (" Tiempo muy 
malo "), to the great indignation of our men, who 
muttered, " Don't say so ! " 

The stony path from Realejo leads in a fairly 
steep ascent to Palo Blanco, a little scattered 
village of charcoal-burners' huts at a height of 
2200 feet. The wreaths of blue smoke from their 
fires mingled with the mist, but already there was 
a promise of better things to come, as the sun 
was breaking through and the clouds were thinner. 
The chant of the charcoal-burners is a sound one 



. 151 



ALEJO ALTO 



TENERIFFE 



35 



gets accustomed to in these regions, and I never 
quite knew whether it was merely a song which 
cheered them on their downward path, or whether 
it was to announce their approach and ask ascending 
travellers to move out of their way, as the size of the 
loads they carry on their heads makes them often 
very difficult to pass. Presently two swalwart girls 
came into sight, swinging along at a steady trot ; 
their bare feet apparently even more at home along 
the stony track than the unshod feet of the mules, 
as there is no stopping to pick their way, on they 
go, only too anxious to reach their journey's end, 
and drop the crushing load off their heads. We 
anxiously inquired as to the state of the weather 
higher up, and to our great relief, with no hesita- 
tion, came the answer : " Muy claro " (very clear), 
and in a few minutes a puff of wind blew all the 
mist away as if by magic, and there was a shout of 
triumph from the men. 

Below lay the whole valley of Orotava, and we 
were leaving the picturesque town of the Villa 
Orotava far away below us on the left. The little 
villages of La Perdoma, La Cruz Santa, and the 
two Realejos, Alto and Bajo, were more imme- 
diately below us, and far away in the distance 



36 



CANARY ISLANDS 



beyond the Puerto were to be seen Santa Ursula, 
Sauzal and the little scattered town of Tacoronte. 
Pedro Gil and all the range of mountains on the 
left had large stretches of melting snow, shining 
with a dazzling whiteness in the sun. It had been 
an unusual winter for snow, so we were assured, 
and it was rare to find it still lying at the end of 
February, but we were glad it was so, for it cer- 
tainly added greatly to the beauty of the scene. 
At the Monte Verde, the region of green things, 
we called a halt, for the sake of man and beast, 
and while our men refreshed themselves with sub- 
stantial slices of sour bread and the snow white 
local cheese, made from goats' milk, and our mules 
enjoyed a few minutes' breathing-space with loosened 
girths, we took a short walk to look down into the 
beautiful Barranco de la Laura. Here the trees 
have as yet escaped destruction at the hands of 
the charcoal-burners and the steep banks are still 
clad with various kinds of native laurel mixed with 
large bushes of the Erica arborea, the heath which 
covers all the region of the Monte Verde. The 
almost complete deforestation by the charcoal- 
burners is most deeply to be deplored, and it is 
sad to think how far more beautiful all this region 



TENERIFFE 



37 



must have been before it was stripped of its grand 
pine and laurel trees. The authorities took no steps 
to stop this wholesale destruction of the forests 
until it was too late, and even now, though futile 
regulations exist, no one takes the trouble to see 
that they are enforced. The law now only allows 
dead wood to be collected, but it is easy enough to 
make dead wood — a man goes up and breaks down 
branches of trees or retama, and a few weeks later 
goes round and collects them as dead wood, and 
so the law is evaded. As there is a never-ending 
demand for charcoal, it being the only fuel the 
Spaniard uses, so matters will continue until there 
is nothing left to cut. 

No doubt we were on the same path as that by 
which Humboldt had travelled when he visited 
Teneriffe in 1799 and ascended the Peak. His 
description of the vegetation shows how the ruthless 
axe of the charcoal-burners has destroyed some of 
the most beautiful forests in the world. Humboldt 
had been obliged to abandon his travels in Italy in 
1795 without visiting the volcanic districts of Naples 
and Sicily, a knowledge of which was indispensable 
for his geological studies. Four years later the 
Spanish Court had given him a splendid welcome 



38 



CANARY ISLANDS 



and placed at his disposal the frigate Pizarro 
for his voyage to the equinoctial regions of New 
Spain. After a narrow escape of falling into the 
hands of English privateers the Trade winds blew 
him to the Canaries. The 21st day of June, 1799, 
finds him on his way to the summit of the Peak 
accompanied by his friend Bonpland, M. le Gros, 
the secretary of the French Consulate in Santa 
Cruz, and the English gardener of Durasno (the 
botanical gardens of Orotava). The day appears 
not to have been happily chosen. The top of the 
Peak was covered in thick clouds from sunrise up 
to ten o'clock. Only one path leads from Villa 
Orotava through the retama plains and the malpays. 
" This is the way that all visitors must follow who 
are only a short time in Teneriffe. When people 
go up the Peak " (these are Humboldt's words) 
" it is the same as when the Chamounix or Etna are 
visited, people must follow the guides and one only 
succeeds in seeing what other travellers have seen 
and described." Like others he was much struck 
by the contrast of the vegetation in these parts of 
Teneriffe and in that surrounding Santa Cruz, 
where he had landed. " A narrow stony path leads 
through Chestnut woods to regions full of Laurel 



TENERIFFE 



39 



and Heath, and then further to the Dornajito 
springs ; this being the only fountain that is met with 
all the way to the Peak. We stopped to take our 
provision of water under a solitary fir tree. This 
station is known in the country by the name of 
Pino del Dornajito. Above this region of arbores- 
cent heaths called Monte Verde, is the region of 
ferns. Nowhere in the temperate zones have I 
seen such an abundance of the Pteris, Blechium and 
Asplenium ; yet none of these plants have the 
stateliness of the arborescent ferns which, at the 
height of 500 and 600 toises, form the principal 
ornaments of equinoctial America. The root of 
the Pteris aquilina serves the inhabitants of Palma 
and Gomera for food. They grind it to powder, 
and mix it with a quantity of barley meal, This 
composition when boiled is called gqfio ; the use of 
so homely an aliment is proof of the extreme 
poverty of the lower classes of people in the 
Canary Islands. (Gofio is still largely consumed). 

" The region of ferns is succeeded by a wood of 
juniper trees and firs, which has suffered greatly 
from the violence of hurricanes (not one is now 
left). In this place, mentioned by some travellers 
under the name of Caraveles, Mr. Eden states that 



40 CANARY ISLANDS 

in the year 1705, he saw little flames, which 
according to the doctrines of the naturalists of his 
time, he attributes to sulphurous exhalations 
igniting spontaneously. We continued to ascend, 
till we came to the rock of La Gayta and to the 
Portillo : traversing this narrow pass between two 
basaltic hills, we entered the great plain of 
Spartium, . . . We spent two hours in crossing 
the Llano del Retama, which appears like an 
immense sea of white sand. In the midst of the 
plain are tufts of the retama, which is the Spartium 
nubigenum of Aiton. M. de Martiniere wished to 
introduce this beautiful shrub into Languedoc, 
where firewood is very scarce. It grows to a 
height of 9 ft. and is loaded with odoriferous 
flowers, with which the goat-hunters who met 
in our road had decorated their hats. The goats 
of the Peak, which are of a dark brown colour, 
are reckoned delicious food ; they browse on the 
spartium and have run wild in the deserts from 
time immemorial." Spending the night on the 
mountain, though in mid summer, the travellers 
complained bitterly of the cold, having neither 
tents nor rugs. At 3 a.m. they started by torch- 
light to make the final ascent to the summit of the 



TENERIFFE 41 

Piton. " A strong northerly wind chased the 
clouds, the moon at intervals shooting through 
the vapours exposed its disk on a firmament 
of the darkest blues, and the view of the volcano 
threw a majestic character over the nocturnal 
scenery. 

" Sometimes the peak was entirely hidden form 
our eyes by the fog, at other times it broke upon 
us in terrific proximity: and like an enormous 
pyramid, threw its shadow over the clouds rolling 
at our feet." 

Scaling the mountain on the north-eastern side, 
in two hours the party reached Alta Vista, follow- 
ing the same course as travellers of to-day, passing 
over the mal pays (a region devoid of vegetable 
mould and covered with fragments of lava) and 
visiting the ice caves. After the Laurels follow 
ferns of great size, Junipers and Pines (not one is 
now left of either) all the way up to the Portillo. 

The Portillo was still towering far above us, 
the gateway of the range, as its name implies, 
through which we had to pass to get to the 
Canadas, and the stony path, though a well defined 
one, meanders on, not at a very steep incline, past 
rough hillocks where here and there pumice stone 



42 



CANARY ISLANDS 



appears. Gradually the heath, which was just 
coming into flower, and in a few weeks would be 
covered with its rather insignificant little white or 
pinkish blossoms, becomes interspersed with codeso, 
Adenocarpus viscosus, with its peculiar flat spread- 
ing growth and tiny leaves of a soft bluish- 
green. During all the long ascent there is no 
sign of the Peak; the path lies so immediately 
beneath the dividing range that it is not until the 
Portillo itself is reached, that it suddenly bursts 
into view. It is a grand scene which lies before 
one. The foreground of rocky ground is inter- 
spersed with great bushes of retama (Sparto-cytisus 
mibigens), sl species of broom said to be peculiar to 
this district. In growth it somewhat resembles 
Spartiumjuncewn, commonly known in England as 
Spanish broom, but is more stubby and perhaps not 
so graceful. When in flower in May its sweet scent 
is so powerful that not only does it fill the whole 
air in this mountain district, but sailors are said to 
smell it miles out at sea. Our guides told us some 
bushes had white flowers and others white tinged 
with rose colour. At this season large patches of 
thawing snow take the place of flowers, but the 
bushes of retama can be seen piercing the Peak's 



TENERIFFE 



43 



dense mantle of snow up to a height of quite 
10,000 feet. 

I had been told that all the beauty of the Peak 
was lost when seen from so near, that the beautiful 
pyramid of rock and snow which rises some 12,000 
feet and stands towering above the valley of Orotava 
would look like a mere hill when seen rising from 
the moat of fine sand, which is what the Canadas 
most resemble, that in fact, all enchantment would 
be gone. One writer even has gone so far as to 
call the Peak an ugly cinder-heap when seen from 
the Canadas on the other side, and to say they found 
themselves "in a lifeless, soundless world, burnt 
out, dead, the very abomination of desolation, 
where once raged a fiery inferno over a lake of 
boiling lava." I cannot help thinking that the 
writer of the above must have been travelling under 
adverse circumstances ; it is curious how being over- 
tired, wet and cold will make one find no beauty 
in a scene, which others, who like ourselves have 
seen it in glorious sunshine, will describe as one of 
the most beautiful sights in the world. 

The path just beyond the Portillo (7150 ft.) divides, 
and those who propose to ascend the Peak follow 
the track up the side of the Montana Blanca, a 



44 



CANARY ISLANDS 



snow-clad hump at the east base of the Peak. The 
cone itself is locally called Lomo Tiezo, and rises 
at an angle of 28°. The stone hut at the Alta Vista 
(10,702 ft.) is where many a weary traveller spends 
the night, before ascending the final 1400 ft. on 
foot, as the mules are left at the hut. No doubt in 
clear weather the traveller is well repaid, and the 
scene is well described as follows by Mr. Samler 
Brown : " Those who cannot ascend the mountain 
would probably greatly help their imagination by 
looking at a lunar crater through a telescope. 
The surroundings are the essence of desolation and 
ruin. On one side the rounded summit of the 
Montana Blanca, on the other the threatening craters 
of the Pico Viejo and of Chahorra, the latter three- 
quarters of a mile in diameter, 10,500 ft. high, once 
a boiling cauldron and even now ready to burst 
into furious life at any moment. Below, the once 
circular basin of the Canadas, seamed with streams 
of lava and surrounded by its jagged and many- 
coloured walls. Around, a number of volcanoes, 
standing, as Piazzi Smyth says, like fish on their 
tails with widely gaping mouths. On the upper 
slopes the pine forests and far beneath the sea, 
with the Six Satellites (the islands of La Palma, 



ENTRANCE TO A SPANISH VILLA 



TENERIFFE 



45 



Gomera, Hierro, Grand Canary, Fuerteventura and 
Lanzarote) floating in the distance, the enormous 
horizon giving the impression that the looker-on is 
in a sort of well rather than on a height which, 
taken in relation to its surroundings is second to 
none in the world." 

To attain the rude little shrine at the Fortaleza 
where a rest was to be taken, the path leads down 
into the Canadas itself. A stretch of fine yellow 
sand, like the sand of the Sahara, thoroughly sun- 
baked, proved too great a temptation to one of the 
mules, and regardless of its rider and luncheon- 
basket, it enjoyed a good roll in the soft warm bed 
— luckily with no untoward results. After a wel- 
come rest in the grateful shade of a retama bush, 
we turned our backs to the Peak and left this 
beautiful solitary scene. The island of La Palma 
seemed to be floating in the sky ; the line of the 
horizon dividing sea and sky appeared to be all out 
of place, in fact it seems to be a weird uncanny 
world in these parts, and though to-day the Peak 
may be standing calm and serene, bathed in sun- 
shine and clad in snow, still it reminds one of the 
death and destruction it has caused by fire and 
flood, and who knows when it may some day awake 



46 



CANARY ISLANDS 



from its long sleep and shake the whole island to 
its foundations. 

It is an accepted theory that the Canadas them- 
selves were originally an immense crater, the second 
largest in the world, and during a period of activity 
they threw up the Peak which became the new 
crater. Probably during this process the Canadas 
themselves subsided, and left the wall of rock 
which appears to form a perfect protection to the 
Valley of Orotava in case the Peak should some 
day again spout forth burning lava. 

It was in the early winter of 1909 that the 
inhabitants of Teneriffe were reminded that their 
volcano was not dead. For nearly a year previously 
frequent slight shocks of earthquake had warned 
geological experts that some upheaval was to be 
expected, which in November were followed by 
loud detonations, each one shaking the houses in 
Orotava. One of the inhabitants has described the 
sensation as one of curious instability, that the 
houses felt as though they were built on a founda- 
tion of jelly. An entirely new crater opened twenty 
miles from the Peak, and though so far distant 
from Orotava, the flashes of light were distinctly 
visible above the lower mountains on the south 



TENERIFFE 



47 



side of the Peak. Very little damage seems to 
have been done, as luckily there were no villages 
near enough to be annihilated by the streams of 
lava, but most exaggerated reports of the eruptions 
were circulated in Europe, and it is even said that a 
message was sent to the Spanish Government asking 
for men-of-war to be sent at once to take away the 
inhabitants as the island was sinking into the sea ! 
Many geological authorities have given it as their 
opinion that it is most unlikely that there will be 
another eruption in less than another hundred 
years, which is consoling and reassuring. 

As the paths were dry we were able to return 
by a different route, which though rather longer is 
far more beautiful, and to those who prefer walking 
to riding downhill is highly to be recommended. 
The mules appear to be more sure-footed in the 
stony paths and once the region of the Monte 
Verde begins again and the path is smooth their 
unshod feet get no hold, and in wet weather the 
path is a mere "mud slide" and should not be 
attempted. It was a beautiful walk along the 
crest of the range ; the Peak was lost to sight but 
the valley below lay filled with drifting patches of 
light mist, through which could just be seen the 



48 



CANARY ISLANDS 



Villa bathed in the afternoon light, and above, all 
was clear. Pedro Gil, and the Montana Blanca 
beyond, glowed in a red light, and right away in 
the distance the mountains round La Laguna were 
just visible. 

From La Corona the view is perhaps at its best. 
On the left the pine woods above Icod de los Vinos 
stretch away into the distance to the extreme west 
of the island, and on the right the valley of Orotava 
lies spread out like a map. Just below La Corona 
one gets back into cultivated regions and the sight 
of a country-woman with the usual burden on her 
head reminded us how many hours it was since we 
had seen a sign of life — not, indeed, since we had 
passed the two charcoal-burners in the early morn- 
ing who had given such welcome news of clear 
weather ahead. Icod el Alto, with the roughest 
village street it has ever been my fate to encounter, 
was soon left behind, and the mules trudged 
wearily down as steep a path as we had met with 
anywhere, to Realejo Bajo and back to civilisation 
and the prosaic. A rickety little victoria with 
three lean but gallant little horses took us home 
exactly twelve hours from the time we started. 
We had not meant to break records, and on 



TENERIFFE 



49 



the homeward path had certainly taken things 
easily — the ride from Realejo Alto to the Canadas 
was exactly four hours, one hour's rest, five hours' 
ride down, partly walking, and two hours' driving — 
and we were neither wet through nor so tired that 
we were ill for a week. I had heard a good 
description of mule riding by some one who was 
consulted as to whether it was very tiring, and 
his answer was, " It is not riding, you just sit, and 
leave the rest to the mule and Providence ! " 



D 



IV 



TENERIFFE (continued) 

I know nothing more enjoyable than a ramble 
along the coast or up one of the many barrancos 
in the neighbourhood of Orotava. I had always 
heard that the Canary Islands were rich in native 
plants, but I hardly realised that almost each 
separate barranco (literally meaning a mountain 
torrent, but now applied to any ravine or deep 
gully) would have its own special treasures, and 
that the cliffs by the sea are so rich in vegetation 
that in many places they look like the most perfect 
examples of rock gardens. 

One of the best walks is up the steep little path, 
hardly more than a goats' track, which leads from 
the Barranco Martinez to the cliffs below the 
terrace of La Paz. It is possible to wander for 
miles in this direction ; occasionally, it is true, the 
spell of enchantment in the way of plant collecting 
will be broken by the path suddenly coming to 

59 



PUERTO OROTAVA 



TENERIFFE 



51 



vast stretches of banana cultivation, but luckily 
there is still a good deal of unbroken ground, and 
the path leads back again to the verge of the cliffs 
and inaccessible places. There are so many plants 
that will be strangers to the newcomer that it is 
hard to know which to mention and which to leave 
out, as far be it from me to pretend to give a full 
list of Canary plants, and the longer I stayed in 
the islands the less surprised I was to hear that 
a learned botanist had been four years collecting 
material for a full and complete account of the 
flora of the Canaries, and that still his work was 
not completed. I think the first place must be 
given to Euphorbia canariensis as one of the most 
conspicuous and ornamental of the cliff plants. 
Great clumps of this "candelabra plant," as the 
English have christened it (or cardon in Spanish), 
are so characteristic that it will always be asso- 
ciated in my mind with the cliffs of TenerifFe. Its 
great square fluted columns may rise to 10 or 
12 ft. leafless, but bearing near the top a reddish 
fruit or flower, and having vicious-looking hooks 
down the edges of its stout branches. If you gash 
one of the columns with a knife out spurts its 
sticky, milky juice, which if not really poisonous is 



52 



CANARY ISLANDS 



a strong irritant, and there is a legend that the 
Guanches used it to stupefy fish, but precisely in 
what manner 1 never ascertained. One feature of 
the cliff vegetation cannot fail to strike every one, 
and that is the soft bluish-green of nearly all the 
plants. The prickly pears, as both the Cactuses 
are commonly called, Opuntia Dillenii and Opuntia 
coccinellifera — the latter especially appears to have 
been introduced for the cultivation of cochineal, 
and has remained as a weed — the sow thistles 
(Sonchus), Kleinias, Arteme?*ia$ 9 and nearly all the 
succulent plants have grey-green colouring, which 
is in such beautiful contrast to the dark cliffs. The 
overhanging cliffs just below La Paz are of most 
beautiful formation and colouring, in places a deep 
brick red colour, owing to a deposit of yellow 
ochre, and in others a tawny yellow, and so deep 
are the hollows in the volcanic rocks and the air 
chambers exposed by the inroads of the sea that 
they have been made into dwellings. Apparently 
more than one family and all their goods and chattels 
are ensconced in the recesses of the rocks, and here 
they live a real open air life, free from house tax or 
any burden in the way of repairs to their dwellings. 
The best of water-supplies is close at hand, indeed 



TENERIFFE 



53 



the stream which gushes out of the rock provides 
drinking water for the whole town, and when I was 
told that one of these cave-dwellers was a harmless 
lunatic, I thought there was a good deal of method 
in his madness when I remembered the vile-smell- 
ing, stuffy cottages that most of the poor inhabit. 

Senecio Kleinia, or Kleinia neriifolia, has the 
habit of a miniature dragon tree, its gouty-forked 
branches having tufts of blue-green leaves. It 
remains a shrubby plant about 5 ft. high, and 
Plocama pendula, with its light weeping form 
and lovely green colour, makes a charming con- 
trast to the stiff growth of the Euphorbias and 
Kleinias, and all three are so thoroughly typical of 
the cliff vegetation that they will probably be the 
first to attract the attention of the newcomer. 
Artemesia canariensis (Canary wormwood) is easily 
recognised by its whitish leaf and very strong 
aromatic scent, which is far from pleasant when 
crushed. The native Lavender and various Chrys- 
anthemums, the parents probably of the so-called 
" Paris Daisy " in cultivation, are common weeds, 
but in March and April, the months of wild 
flowers, many more interesting treasures may be 
found, and while sitting on the rocks, within reach 



54 



CANARY ISLANDS 



of one's hand a bunch of flowers or low-growing 
shrubs may be collected, all probably new to a 
traveller from northern climes. On the shady 
damp side of many a miniature barranco or 
crevasse will be seen nestling in the shadow of the 
rocks which protect them from the salt spray, 
broad patches of the wild Cineraria tussilaginis, in 
every shade of soft lilac, prettier by far than any 
of the cultivated hybrids. In one inaccessible spot 
they were interspersed with a yellow Ranunculus, 
and close by was one of the many sow-thistles 
with its showy yellow flowers. On some of the 
steep slopes, too steep happily for the cultivation 
of the everlasting banana, the great flower stems 
of the Agave rigida rear their proud heads twenty 
feet in the air, and are the remains of a plantation 
of these agaves, which was originally made with a 
view to cultivating them in order to extract fibre 
from their leaves. This variety is the true Sisal from 
the Bahamas, botanically known as var. sisalana, 
and the rapidity with which it increases once the 
plants are old enough to bloom may be imagined 
when it is said that from one single flower-spike 
will drop 2000 new plants. Like many other 
agricultural experiments in this island, fibre extrac- 



TENERIFFE 



55 



tion was abandoned, but I heard of some attempt 
being made to revive it in the arid island of 
Lanzarote. Among the beautiful strata of rock, 
besides the Euphorbias and prickly pears, are to be 
found many low-growing spreading bushes of the 
succulent, Salsola oppositce folia, Ruba fruticosa, 
a white-flowering little Micromeria, Spergularia 
Umbriata, whose bright mauve flowers would be 
considered a most valuable addition to a so-called 
" rock garden " in England, and the low-growing 
violet-blue Echium violaceum, which is a dreaded 
weed in Australia, where the seed was probably 
accidentally introduced. I often used to think 
when rambling over this natural rock garden 
what lessons might be learnt by studying rock 
formation before attempting to lay out in England 
one of those feeble imitations of Nature which 
usually result in lamentable failure, not only in 
failure to please the eye, but failure to cultivate 
the plants through not providing them with suitable 
positions. 

Those who have a steady head and do not mind 
scrambling down steep narrow paths can get right 
down on to the rugged rocks, and when a high sea 
is running the spray dashes high on to the cliffs, and 



56 



CANARY ISLANDS 



one sits m a haze of white mist wondering how any 
vegetation can stand the salt spray. The small 
lilac Statice pectinata grew and flourished in 
such surroundings, reminding one that in England 
statices are generally called Sea Lavenders because 
the native English Statice, S. Limonium, grows on 
marsh land. The miniature-flowered heath-like 
Frankenia e?icifolia was also at home amid the 
spray. 

As the path in our wanderings frequently 
led us back among large farms ov Jincas entirely 
devoted to the cultivation of bananas, it may be 
of interest to mention something of the history of 
this most lucrative industry. It used to go to my 
heart to see charming pieces of broken ground 
being ruthlessly stripped of their natural vegeta- 
tion, old gnarled and twisted fig trees cut down, 
and an army of men set to work to break up the 
soil ready for planting. In most cases the top soil 
is removed, and the soft earth-stone underneath 
is broken up and the top soil replaced; but the 
system appears to differ according to the nature of 
the soil. Walls are constructed for the protection 
of the plants, or in order to terrace the land and 
get the level necessary for the system of irrigation 



TENERIFFE 



57 



concrete channels being made for the water. So 
the initial outlay of bringing land into cultivation 
is heavy, but then the reward reaped is almost 
beyond the dreams of avarice. Good land with 
water is now fetching over £40 an acre per 
annum — indeed, I have even heard of as high a 
price as £60 having been obtained; that, even 
if true, is exceptional ; but perhaps nowhere else 
in the world is land let for agricultural purposes at 
such a rate. Land, however good, which is not 
irrigated, will only fetch from £4 to £6 an acre, 
and though I was never able to ascertain exactly 
how much per acre the water would cost, there is 
no doubt the rate is a very high one ; so the rent is 
not all profit to the landlord. The life of a banana 
plantation averages from twelve to fourteen years, 
but for eighteen months no return is obtained, except 
from the potato crop which is planted in between 
the young plants, or, rather, the old stumps, from 
which a young sucker will spring up and bear fruit. 
That shoot will again be cut down, and by that 
time several suckers will spring up, about three 
being left as a rule on a plant, which will each bear 
fruit in nine or ten months. An acre of land in 
full bearing will produce over 2000 bunches, which 



58 CANARY ISLANDS 

are at present fetching about 4s. each when packed 
for export. 

Much of the labour on the plantations is done by 
women, and long processions of them make their 
way to the packing-houses, bearing the immense 
bunches of green fruit on their heads. Bare-footed, 
sturdy, handsome girls many of them, with curiously 
deep voices in which they chant with a sing-song 
note as they trip along with a splendid upright 
carriage. Unfortunately their song is instantly 
broken when they catch sight of a foreigner, and a 
chorus of Peni, pent, pent, either getting louder and 
louder if no attention is paid to the demand, or 
turned to a bleating whine for una perrita (a little 
penny), accompanied frequently by a volley of 
stones. Foreigners complain bitterly of this beg- 
ging, but they have brought it on themselves by 
throwing coins to children as they drive along the 
road. Or when a crowd of urchins collects, as if to 
reward them for their bright black eyes and pretty 
faces, which many of them have, a shower of 
coppers is thrown to them, so it is small wonder 
that a race has grown up whose earliest instinct 
teaches it to beg, and I feel sure that Peni is often 
the first word that a toddling child is taught. 



TENERIFFE 



59 



The packing-houses are also a blot on the land- 
scape, sometimes great unsightly sheds tacked on 
to what has once been the summer residence of an 
old Spanish family, and here crowds of men, women 
and girls are wrapping up the bunches, which are 
shipped in wooden crates by the thousand, and tens 
or even hundreds of thousands, I should imagine, 
judging by the endless procession of carts drawn by 
immense bullocks which wend their way down to 
the mole, when a steamer comes in to take a 
whole cargo of the fruit to England. I used often 
to wonder that it was possible to find such an un- 
limited market for bananas when one thinks that 
Grand Canary ships as many as TenerifTe, and they 
have a formidable rival also in Jamaica. It is to be 
hoped that the trade will not be overdone and the 
markets fall, or that a blight will not come on the 
plants, and that the Islands will not again suffer 
from the ruin which followed the cochineal boom. 
Bananas are said to have been introduced to the 
Canaries from the Gulf of Guinea, but that was 
not their real home, and no one knows how they 
were originally brought from the Far East. From 
the Canaries they were sent to the West Indian 
Islands in 1516, and on from there to Central 



60 



CANARY ISLANDS 



America. Oviedo, writing about the natural history 
of the West Indies, mentions having seen bananas 
growing in the orchard of a monastery at Las 
Palmas in 1520. The botanical name of the 
Banana, Musa sapientum, was given in the old 
belief that it was the fruit of the tree of knowledge 
of good and evil. The variety now under cultiva- 
tion is Musa Cavendishii, the least tropical and 
most suitable for cool climates. Locally they are 
called Pldtano, a corruption of the original name 
Pldntano, from plantain in English, under which 
name they are always known in the East. Though 
the plant has been known in the islands for nearly 
four centuries, it was of no use as a crop before the 
water which is so absolutely necessary for its culti- 
vation was brought down from the mountains. 
Some residents — those, I noticed, who did not own 
banana plantations — lament that the excessive 
irrigation has made the climate of Orotava damper 
than it used to be, but if the cultivation has brought 
about a climatic change, it has also brought about 
a financial change in the fortunes of the farmers 
and landlords, and many an enterprising man, who 
a few years ago was just a working medianero, 
satisfied with his potato or tomato crop, has 



TENERIFFE 



61 



little by little built up a very substantial 
fortune. 

A medianero is a tenant or bailiff who cultivates 
the ground and receives a share of the profits. The 
contract between the landlord and the medianero 
varies a good deal on different estates, and the 
system is rather complicated, but as a rule he 
provides his tenant with a house rent free, pays for 
half the seed of a cereal, potato or vegetable crop, 
but none of the labour for cultivation, and the profits 
made on the crop are equally divided. Sometimes, 
especially in the case of banana cultivation, the 
proprietor pays for half the labour of planting and 
gathering the crop for sending to market, but never 
for any of the intermediate labour. The landlord 
provides the all-important water-supply, but all the 
labour of irrigation has to be done by the medianero, 
who also pays a share of taxes. The loss of a crop 
through blight or a storm is equally shared. The 
trouble of the system, which in some ways seems 
a good one, must come in over the division of the 
profits, as either the honesty of the tenant must be 
implicitly trusted or an overseer must be present 
when the crop is gathered to see that the landlord 
gets his true medias. 



62 



CANARY ISLANDS 



At a higher altitude, some 800 or 900 ft. below 
the village of Santa Ursula, which is justly famous 
for its groups of Canary Palms, is a large estate, 
as yet uncultivated from lack of sufficient water. 
Besides the natural vegetation which stands the 
summer drought, the owner has collected together 
many drought-resisting plants, among which are 
several natives of Australia. The Golden Wattle 
seemed quite at home, though the trees have not yet 
attained the size they would in their native country, 
and small groves of Eucalyptus Lehma?ini, with 
their curious fluffy balls of flower, gave welcome 
shade, and Australian salt bushes were being grown 
as an experiment with a view to providing a new 
fodder plant. The stony ground was covered 
with a low-growing Cystus monspeliensis closely 
resembling the variety much prized in England as 
Jlorentina, its white blossoms covering the bushes. 
Many of the plants were the same as on the lower 
cliffs, but Convolvulus scoparius I was much in- 
terested to find growing in its natural state. The 
growth so closely resembles that of the retama 
that it might easily be mistaken for it ; the natives 
call it Lena Noel or Palo de rosa, but the flower 
is like a miniature convolvulus growing all down 



TENERIFFE 



63 



the stems. Both this and Convolvulus Jloridus 
are known as Canary Rosewoods, and scoparius has 
become rare owing to the digging of its roots from 
which the oil was distilled. Dr. Morris of Kew 
was a great admirer of C. Jloridus, and describes 
guadil, as it is known locally, as " a most attractive 
plant. When in flower it appears as if covered 
with newly fallen snow. It is one of the few native 
plants which awaken the enthusiasm of the local 
residents." Many Sempervivums were to be seen, 
but S. Lindleyi is most curious. Its fleshy trans- 
parent leaves grow in clusters and it has received 
the local and very apt name of Guanche grapes. 
Little Scylla iridifolium grew everywhere, and one 
could have spent days collecting treasures, and I 
felt torn in two between admiring the splendid 
views which the headland commands, and trying 
to add something to my most insufficient know- 
ledge of the native plants. Near the house in cul- 
tivated ground were to be seen the two most 
ornamental native brooms, Genista rhodorrhizoides 
and Cytisus jilipes ; both are of drooping 
habit, with very sweet-scented white flowers, 
and should be more widely cultivated. The 
former very closely resembles the variety mono- 



64 



CANARY ISLANDS 



sperma, which grows near the Mediterranean 
coast. 

Here too were to be seen some splendid clumps 
of the true native Statice arborea which for many 
years gave rise to such botanical discussions. For 
a long time this variety was lost and a hybrid of 
arborea and macrophylla did duty for the true 
variety, which was definitely pronounced extinct. 
It was, I believe, Francis Messon who first collected 
this plant in Teneriffe on his way to the Cape in 
1773, and describes its locality as "on a rock in 
the sea opposite the fountain which waters Port 
Orotava." These rocks were the Burgado Cove to 
the east of Rambla del Castro, and it was again 
found growing in this neighbourhood in 1829 by 
Berthelot and Webb, who describe it in their 
admirable book on the " Histoire Naturelle des lies 
Canaries." Before this date another French 
botanist, Broussonet, had " discovered " the plant 
a few miles further along the coast, at Daute 
near Garachico, and after its complete disappear- 
ance from the Burgado rocks, owing probably to 
goats having destroyed it, it was re-discovered in 
the Daute locality a few years ago, through the 
untiring efforts and perseverance of Dr. George 



STATICES AND PRIDE OF TENERIFFE 



TENERIFFE 



65 



Perez. Having heard of the plants growing on 
inaccessible rocks, he got a shepherd to secure the 
specimens for him, the plants being hauled up by- 
means of ropes to which hooks were attached, and 
it was no doubt thanks to their position that even 
goats were not able to destroy them. So Statice 
arborea was rescued and is once more in cultivation, 
and one of the most ornamental and effective 
garden plants it is possible to see. The loose 
panicles of deep purple flower-heads last for weeks 
in perfection, and are so freely produced that even 
one plant of it seems to give colour to a whole 
garden. The statices endemic to the various islands 
form quite a long list and are all ornamental, and 
prove the fact I have already mentioned of the 
extremely restricted area in which many native 
plants are found. The true Statice macropliylla 
finds a home in only a small area on the north-east 
coast of Teneriffe and is another very showy 
species. Statice frutescens is very similar to Statice 
arborea, but is of much smaller stature ; its native 
home appears to be — or to have been — on the 
rocky promontory of El Freyle, to the extreme 
west of Teneriffe. 

From a single high rock, known as Tabucho, 

E 



66 



CANARY ISLANDS 



near Marca, also on the west coast, came in 1907 
a new variety, at first thought to be Preauooii, but 
it was eventually found to be an entirely new 
contribution and was named Statice Perezii after 
Dr. Perez who discovered the plant and sent the 
specimen to Kew. 

The island of Gomera contributes the very blue- 
flowered S. brassici folia, its winged stems making 
it easy to recognise, and from Lanzarote comes 
S. puberula, sl more dwarf kind, very varying in 
colour. These appear to comprise the statices 
best known now in cultivation, though there are 
several other less interesting varieties. 

Here, at Santa Ursula, great interest is also 
taken in the Echiums, another race of Canary 
plants. JEckium simplex must be accorded first 
place, as it is commonly called Pride of Teneriffe ; 
it bears one immense spike of white flowers, and 
like the aloe, after this one supreme effort the 
plant dies. The seed luckily germinates freely. 
From the island of La Palma had come seed of 
Echium pininana, and tales of a deep blue flower- 
spike said to rise from 9 ft. to 15 ft. in the air, and 
though the plants were only one year old some 
showed promise of flowering. The pinkish 



TENERIFFE 



67 



flowered E. auberianum, like so many of the 
statices, has made its home in almost inaccessible 
places among the rocks on the Fortaleza at a 
height of some 7000 ft., close to the Canadas. 

Over the walls were hanging masses of Lotus 
Berthelotii, one of the native plants I most 
admired. Its long trails of soft grey leaves hang 
in garlands and in spring come the deep red 
flowers. The plant is known locally as Pico de 
paloma (pigeon's beak) and I found one seldom 
gave it its true botanical name, which does not seem 
to fit it. Here again is another plant whose native 
lair has been lost. A stretch of country between 
Villa Orotava and La Florida is known to have been 
its home, but for years past botanists have hunted 
for it in vain. A variety which differed slightly 
found a home in the Pinar above Arico, but that 
equally has disappeared. 



V 



TENERIFFE {continued) 

To the east of the town lies a district where, in old 
days, the Spaniards built their villas, as summer 
residences, in which to escape from the heat and 
dust of the town. In those days vineyards and 
cornfields took the place of banana plantations and 
potato fields, and near some of the villas are to 
be seen to this day the old wine-presses with their 
gigantic beams made of the wood of the native 
pine. These presses have long been silent and idle, 
as disease ravaged the vines some fifty years ago, 
and " Canary sack " is no longer stored in the vast 
cellars of the old houses. 

One of these old villas became our temporary 
home, so I am to be forgiven for placing it first on 
the list. A steep cobbled lane leads up from the 
Puerto, bordered with plane trees, and here and 
there great clumps of oleanders, to the plateau 
some 300 feet above the sea on which stands the 

68 



TENERIFFE 



69 



house of La Paz. The outer gate is guarded by 
the little chapel of Santo Amaro, and once a year 
the clanging bell summons worshippers to Mass 
and to escort the figure of the patron saint, amid 
incense and rockets, down the long cypress avenue 
to the terrace above the sea. 

Each side of the faded green wooden doorway, 
two giant cypresses stand like sentries to guard the 
gate, through which may be seen, on one side, a 
row of flaunting red poinsettias, waving their 
gaudy blossoms above a low myrtle hedge, and on 
the other side the high garden wall is draped with 
orange creepers. At right angles to this path 
facing the entrance to the house, a long avenue of 
splendid lance-like cypresses rises above a thick 
hedge of myrtles whose trunks speak for them- 
selves of their immense age. A round flight of 
low steps leads to the forecourt, and the tiny inner 
court is guarded by yet another faded green 
doorway. Here flowers run riot in a little garden 
where prim box hedges edge the paved walks. On a 
flagged terrace stands the " House of Peace," facing 
the Atlantic, and from the solid green panelled door 
there is an unbroken view down the long, straight 
avenue to the dazzling, dancing sea below. 



70 



CANARY ISLANDS 



Over the door is a weather-stained coat-of-arms, 
and above, again, on a piece of soft green scroll- 
work, is the Latin motto " hic est requies mea," 
as here to his house of rest came the original owner, 
to rest from his work in the town. 

Very little seems to be known of the history of 
La Paz, but it seems fairly certain that it was 
built by an Irish family of the name of Walsh; 
who, with many of their fellow countrymen, emi- 
grated to the Canaries after the siege of Limerick, 
and in the church of N. S. de la Pena de Francia, 
in the town, the tomb of Bernardo Walsh, who died 
in 1721, bears the same arms as those which are 
carved above the door. The family, who no doubt 
entered into business in the town, appear to have 
found a foreign name inconvenient and changed 
it into Valois, as Bernardo Walsh is described as 
alias Valois. The two Irish families of Walsh and 
Cologan intermarried at some time, and the 
property passed to the Cologans, who assumed 
the Spanish title of Marquez de la Candia ; to this 
family La Paz still belongs, though it is many 
years since they have lived there, and the present 
owner, who lives in Spain, has never even seen the 
property. 



LA PAZ 



TENERIFFE 



The traveller Humboldt is said to have been a 
guest at La Paz for a few days, which has caused 
many Germans to call it " Humboldt's villa," and 
even to go so far as to say that he built it, though 
he only paid a flying visit of four days to Orotava in 
1799. From the account of his visit in his " Personal 
Narrative" it appears doubtful as to whether he 
stayed at La Paz or at the house belonging to the 
Cologan family, in Villa Orotava. Alluding to his 
short stay, he remarks : " It is impossible to speak 
of Orotava without recalling to the remembrance of 
the friends of science, the name of Don Bernardo 
Cologan, whose house at all times was open to 
travellers of every nation. We could have wished 
to have sojourned for some time in Don Bernardo's 
house, and to have visited with him the charming 
scenery of San Juan de la Rambla. But on a 
voyage such as we had undertaken, the present is 
but little enjoyed. Continually haunted by the 
fear of not executing the design of to-morrow we 
live in perpetual uneasiness. ..." Further on 
he says: 44 Don Cologan's family has a country 
house nearer the coast than that I have just men- 
tioned. This house, called La Paz, is connected 
with a circumstance that rendered it peculiarly 



72 



CANARY ISLANDS 



interesting to us. M. le Borde, whose death we 
deplored, was its inmate during his last visit to the 
Canary Islands. It was in a neighbouring plain 
that he measured the base, by which he determined 
the height of the Peak." The house has no pre- 
tensions to any great architectural beauty, but has 
an air of peace and stateliness which the hand of 
time gives to many a house of far less imposing 
dimensions than its modern neighbour. 

On one side of the house a few steps lead down 
to the walled garden, a large square outlined and 
traversed by vine-clad pergolas, which again form 
four more squares. In the centre of one an 
immense pine tree shelters a round water basin, 
where papyrus and arums make a welcome shelter 
for the tiny green frogs. One feature of these old 
Spanish gardens might well be copied in other 
lands ; a low double plaster wall some two feet 
thick, called locally a poyo, makes a charming 
border for plants : geraniums, verbenas, stocks, 
carnations, poppies, and the hanging Pico de 
paloma, all look their best grown in this way, and 
at a lower level a wide low seat ran along the 
walls. The beds were edged with sweet-smelling 
geranium, the white-leafed salvia, a close-growing 



TENERIFFE 



73 



thyme, or box, all kept clipped in neat, compact 
hedges. Some of the garden has now, alas ! 
been given over to a more profitable use than 
that of growing flowers, and a potato crop is 
succeeded in summer by maize, but enough 
remains for a wealth of flowering trees, shrubs, 
creepers and plants. The brilliant orange Bignonia 
venusta covers a long stretch of the pergola, drapes 
the garden wall and climbs up to the flat roof- 
top of one of the detached wings of the house. 
In summer a white stephanotis disputes possession 
and covers the tiled roof of a garden shed, filling 
the whole air with its delicious scent. Among 
other sweet-smelling plants were daturas, whose 
great trumpets are especially night-scented flowers, 
and in early spring the tiny white blossoms of the 
creeping smilex smell so much like the orange 
blossoms which have not yet opened, that their 
delicious fragrance might easily be mistaken for it. 
Sweet-scented geraniums grow in every corner, 
and heliotropes, sweet peas and stocks all add to 
the fragrance of the garden. 

The grounds contain several good specimen 
palms, too many perhaps for the health of flowers, 
as their roots seem to poison the ground ; hibiscus,, 



74 



CANARY ISLANDS 



coral trees, pittosperums and a long list of trees 
common to most subtropical gardens find a home, 
but the tree I most admired was a venerable speci- 
men of the native olive growing near a grove of 
feathery giant bamboos. 

The cypress avenue leads to a broad terrace at 
a dizzy height above the sea ; the surf beats against 
the cliffs below, but the salt air does not seem to 
affect the beautiful vegetation, and for long years 
great clumps of Euphorbias and Kleinias have 
stood against the winter storms when great breakers 
roll in and crash against the rocks. On the left 
lies the little flat town of the Puerto, over which 
in clear weather the Island of La Palma emerges 
from its mantle of clouds, and many a gorgeous 
sunset bathes the whole town in a mist of rosy 
light, recalling the legend that in days of old, navi- 
gators had christened the little fishing-port the 
Puerto de Oro, after Casa de Oro, the House of 
Gold, which title they had given to the Peak, as 
night after night the setting sun had turned its 
cap of snow to pale gold. 

On the right the broken coast-line stretches away 
into the far distance, and the mountains rise above 
the little villages ; they in their turn are caught 



TENERIFFE 



75 



by the setting sun and kissed by her last departing 
rays, and turned to a rosy pink, but as the ball of 
fire sinks into the sea, the shadows creep up, and in 
one moment in this land which knows no twilight, 
the light is gone and the cold greyness of night 
takes possession. 

Just behind La Paz are the Botanical gardens, 
which owe their existence to the Marquez de 
Nava, who in 1795 undertook at enormous expense 
to level the hill of Durasno, and lay it out for 
receiving the treasures of other climes. Though 
complaints are often made of its distance from 
the so-called " English colony," the site was well 
chosen, as the soil on this side of the barranco, 
which separates it from the lava bed, is decidedly 
more fertile, and being of a heavier nature and 
deeper is less liable to blight and disease, which 
are the curse of the gardens on light dry soil, and 
which no amount of irrigation will cure. In this 
garden are collected treasures from every part of 
the world ; new ground is sadly needed as the im- 
mense trees and shrubs have made the cultivation 
of flowers a great difficulty. Humboldt appreciated 
the use of these gardens for the introduction of plants 
from Asia, Africa and South America, remarking 



76 



CANARY ISLANDS 



that : " In happier times when maritime wars shall 
no longer interrupt communication, the garden 
of Teneriffe may become extremely useful with 
respect to the great number of plants which are sent 
from the Indies to Europe : for ere they reach our 
coasts they often perish owing to the length of the 
passage, during which they inhale an air impreg- 
nated with salt water. These plants would meet 
at Orotava with the care and climate necessary for 
their preservation ; at Durasno, the Protea, the 
Psidium, the Jambos, the Chirinoya of Peru, the 
sensitive plant, and the Heliconia all grow in the 
open air." 

To give a list of all the trees and plants would 
be an impossibility and any one who is interested 
in them will find an excellent account of the gar- 
dens in a pamphlet written by Dr. Morris of Kew, 
who was much interested in his visit to the Canary 
Islands in 1895. The gardens for some years fell 
into a neglected state from lack of funds, but once 
again bid fair to regain their former glory under 
new management. Among the chief ornaments 
of the gardens are the very fine specimens of the 
native pine, Pinus canariensis, an immense Ficus 
nitida, one of the best shade-giving trees, and 



BOTANICAL GARDENS, OROTAVA 



TENERIFFE 



77 



travellers from the tropics will recognise an old 
friend in Ravenala madagascar iensis, the "Traveller's 
Tree," in the socket of whose leaves water is always 
to be found. 

Further up the road is the property of San Bar- 
tolomeo ; the land is now entirely devoted to banana 
cultivation, the house is handed over to the tender 
mercies of a medianero, and the garden tells a tale 
of departed glories. In the patio of the house a 
donkey is stalled under a purple bougainvillea, and 
tall cypresses look down reproachfully at the fallen 
state of things. In the chapel of the house mass 
is still said daily, but" for seven years I was told 
the sala had not been opened. In the garden the 
myrtle hedges have grown out of all bounds, jessa- 
mines have become a dense tangle, and the plaster 
poyos, which once were full of plants, are crumbling 
to decay. 

Near by is El Cypres, formerly a villa, and 
named after its splendid cypresses, which mark 
every old Spanish garden, and now unfortunately 
appear to be little planted. This villa has been 
turned into a pension, and its glory is also departed. 
El Drago has been more fortunate, and has been 
rescued by foreign hands, and the wealth of 



78 



CANARY ISLANDS 



creepers, especially Plumbago capensis, which in 
autumn has a complete canopy of pale blue flowers 
clambering over the pergolas, together with its 
splendid trees, make a landmark in the landscape. 

A few miles away I wandered one evening into 
another deserted garden, not entirely uncared for, 
as I was told the owner from the villa came there 
for a few weeks in summer. This garden showed 
that it had originally been laid out with great care 
and thought, not in the haphazard way which 
spoils so many gardens, and afterwards I learnt 
that it had been planned by a Portuguese gardener, 
and I recognised the little beds with their neat box 
hedges, the clumps of rosemaries and heaths which, 
though they were somewhat unkempt, showed that 
in former days they had been clipped into shape 
after the manner of all true Portuguese gardens. The 
garden walls and plaster seats of charming designs 
showed traces of fresco work in delicate colouring, 
and soft green tiles edged the water basin, in which 
grew a tangle of papyrus, yams and arums. A 
garden house, whose roof was completely covered 
with wistaria, was surrounded by a balcony whose 
walls had also been frescoed, but now, alas, packing 
cases for bananas had sorely damaged them. The 



TENERIFFE 



79 



sole occupants of the garden appeared to be a pair 
of peacocks ; the male bird at the sight of an 
intruder spread his fan and strutted down the 
terrace steps to do the honours of the garden. The 
flower beds, which had once been full of begonias, 
lilies, pelargoniums, and every kind of treasured 
plant, are now too much overshadowed by large 
trees, but I longed to have the restoring of this 
garden to its former beauty. 

On the other side of the yawning barranco lie 
Sant Antonio and El Sitio del Pardo, both old 
houses, built long before the town began to 
develop and new houses cropped up on the western 
side. Across this barranco a new road, which was 
to lead from the carretera to the Puerto, was com- 
menced some years ago, and left unfinished, after 
even the bridge had been constructed, because the 
owner of a small piece of land refused to sell, or 
allow the road to pass through his property. Thus 
it remains a " broken road," because, in true Spanish 
fashion, no one had taken the trouble to make sure 
that the land was available before the undertaking 
was commenced ; and still all the traffic to the 
port has to wind its way slowly along several miles 
of unnecessary road. 



80 



CANARY ISLANDS 



El Sitio is another old villa which was visited 
by Humboldt, who was present on the eve of St. 
John's Day at a pastoral fete in the garden of 
Mr. Little, who appears to have been the original 
owner of El Sitio. Humboldt says : " This gentle- 
man, who rendered great service to the Canarians 
during the last famine, has cultivated a hill covered 
with volcanic substances. He has formed in this 
delicious site an English garden, whence there is a 
magnificent view of the Peak, of the villages along 
the coast, and the isle of La Palma, which is 
bounded by the vast expanse of the Atlantic. I 
cannot compare this prospect with any, except the 
views of the Bay of Genoa and Naples ; but Orotava 
is greatly superior to both in the magnitude of 
the masses and richness of the vegetation. In the 
beginning of the evening, the slope of the volcano 
exhibited on a sudden a most extraordinary spec- 
tacle. The shepherds, in conformity to a custom 
no doubt introduced by the Spaniards, though it 
dates from the highest antiquity, had lighted the 
fires of St. John. The scattered masses of fire, 
and the columns of smoke driven by the wind, 
formed a fine contrast with the deep verdure of the 
forest, which covered the sides of the Peak. Shouts 



EL SITIO DEL PARDO 



TENERIFFE 



31 



of joy resounding from afar were the only sounds 
that broke the silence of nature in the solitary 
regions." 

El Sitio is also well known as being the house 
where Miss North made her headquarters when she 
visited Teneriffe, and made her collection of draw- 
ings of plants from Canary Gardens, which are in 
the gallery at Kew. Miss North, in her book of 
"Recollections," appears to have thoroughly en- 
joyed her stay, and describes this garden as follows : 

" There were myrtle trees ten or twelve feet high, 
Bougainvilleas running up cypress trees. Mrs. 
Smith (the owner of the garden in those days) 
complained of their untidiness, and great white 
Longiflorum lilies growing as high as myself. The 
ground was white with fallen orange and lemon 
petals ; the huge white Cherokee roses {Rosa laevi- 
gata) covered a great arbour and tool-house with 
their magnificent flowers. I never smelt roses so 
sweet as those in that garden. Over all peeped 
the snowy point of the Peak, at sunrise and sunset 
most gorgeous, but even more dazzling in the 
moonlight. From the garden I could stroll up 
some wild hills of lava, where Mr. Smith had 
allowed the natural vegetation of the island to 



82 



CANARY ISLANDS 



have all its own way. Magnificent aloes, cactus, 
euphorbias, arums, cinerarias, sundry heaths, and 
other peculiar plants, were to be seen in their fullest 
beauty. Eucalyptus trees had been planted on the 
top, and were doing well with their bark hanging 
in rags and tatters about them. I scarcely ever 
went out without rinding some new wonder to 
paint, lived a life of most perfect peace and hap- 
piness, and got strength every day with my kind 
friends." 

This property has been fortunate enough to 
pass to other hands who still appreciate it, and 
the above paragraph, though written so many 
years ago, is still a very good description of the 
garden. 

Sant Antonio has not been so fortunate. For 
some years its garden was the pride of Orotava. In 
the terraced ground in front of the house, plants 
and trees from every part of the world found a 
home ; but when the maker of this garden left it, 
the owner ruthlessly tore up the garden to plant 
bananas; Here and there among the banana-groves 
may be seen a solitary bougainvillea still climbing 
over its trellised archway, but little remains, except 
on one terrace below the house, to show that the 



TENERIFFE 



garden was ever cared for. In the grounds there 
still remains some very good treillage work. The 
pattern of the screens, arches, and arbours are dis- 
tinctly Chippendale in character and design, and 
are painted a soft dull green. In several other 
instances I noticed admirable patterns in the wood- 
work of screens to deep verandahs, and in the upper 
part of wooden doorways. Chippendale must at 
one time have been much admired and copied in 
the Canaries, and to this day, in even the humblest 
cottage, the chairs are of true Chippendale design,, 
though roughly carved. 



VI 



TENERIFFE {continued) 

Icod de los Vinos, a little town on the coast, some 
seventeen miles from Orotava, was in the days of its 
prosperity a great centre of the wine and cochineal 
trade. Its prosperous days are a thing of the past, 
and to-day it appears to be rather a sleepy little 
town ; but possibly for just this reason it is more 
picturesque than some of its richer neighbours, 
whose inhabitants can afford to build modern and 
most unsightly houses. 

The drive from Orotava to Icod is by far the 
most beautiful drive in the island. Once the dusty 
stretch of car ret era between the junction of the 
road from Tacoronte to the Puerto is left behind, 
the drive becomes full of interest. The road passes 
below the picturesque little village of Realejo Bajo, 
skirts the towering cliffs on which is perched the 
little village of Icod el Alto some 1700 ft. above, 
and winds along the sea shore. Every turn of the 

84 



TENERIFFE 



85 



road brings into sight a fresh view of the deeply 
indented coast-line between the storm-bent old 
tamarisk trees which edge the road for miles. The 
long avenues of eucalyptus trees, with their ragged 
bark hanging in strips, will always be associated in 
my mind with all the carriage roads in Teneriffe. 
Early in March the vegetation reminds one that 
spring has begun. The geraniums in the cottage 
gardens are showing promise of their summer 
glory, fringing the walls or hanging in long trails 
from the little flat roof tops. The winter rains 
have washed the dust off the hedge-rows and 
banks, and in places where water is dripping from 
the rocks they are draped with a thick coating of 
maiden-hair fern, and the pale lilac blossoms of the 
wild coltsfoot, Cineraria tussilaginis, stud the banks. 
I should imagine this to have been the parent of the 
variety known in cultivation as Cineraria stellata, 
so much grown of late years in English green- 
houses. The rocks themselves are studded with 
the curious flat Sempervivum tabula? f or mce, looking 
like great green nail heads, and S. canariensis was 
just throwing up flower-spikes from its rosettes of 
cabbage-like leaves. Here and there a little water- 
fall gives welcome moisture to water-loving plants. 



86 



CANARY ISLANDS 



Common brambles, encouraged by the dampness, 
grow to vast dimensions and hang in rich profu- 
sion, winding themselves into cords until they 
look like the lianes of a tropical forest. Far down 
in the crevasse below the stone bridges, the long 
fronds of ferns, the untorn leaves of a seedling 
banana, with the large leaves of the common yam, 
suggest a sub-tropical garden. 

Between the road and the sea are great stretches 
of land cultivated with bananas, a mine of wealth 
to their owners, who now no longer visit their 
summer residences on these estates. Neglected 
gardens tell a tale of departed glories, and many of 
the houses are left to fall to rack and ruin, or are 
merely inhabited by the medianero who has rented 
the ground. 

Near the outskirts of San Juan de la Rambla a 
stone arch crosses the road, and just beyond, the 
deep Barranco Ruiz cuts into the mountain sides. 
It is a grand rocky ravine, and by a steep narrow 
path which winds up the side it is possible to reach 
Icod el Alto at the top of the barranco. 

The little town of San Juan de la Rambla is very 
picturesquely situated, and every traveller is shown 
the beautifully carved latticed balcony on an old 



TENERIFFE 



87 



house, as the carriage rattles through the little 
narrow street. We are told that luckily the 
balcony is made of the very hard and durable wood 
of the beautiful native pine, Pinus canariensis, 
which is rapidly becoming a rare tree in the lower 
parts of the island. The wood itself is locally called 
tea, and the trees are called teasolas by the country 
people, who know no other name for them. 

Once San Juan is passed the Peak becomes the 
centre of interest. The luxuriant vegetation is left 
behind, the beauty of the coast is forgotten, and 
the completely different aspect which the Peak 
presents from this side absorbs one's attention. 
The foreground is nothing but rocky ground, but 
numbers of Cistus Berthelotianus brighten up the 
barren ground with their bushes of showy rose- 
coloured flowers. In places they were interspersed 
with great quantities of asphodels, whose branching 
spikes of starry white and brownish flowers seem 
hardly worthy of their romantic name. In reality 
they have always sadly shattered my mental picture 
of the asphodel — the chosen flower of the ancients, 
the flower of blessed oblivion — this surely should 
have been a superb lily, pure white, and " fields of 
asphodels " which we read of should be rich green 



88 



CANARY ISLANDS 



meadows full of moisture, where the lilies should 
grow knee deep, not arid tufa slopes where erect 
rods of this strange blossom rise from a cluster of 
half-starved narrow leaves. The local name is 
gamona, and in Grand Canary where they abound, 
one large tract of land is called El llano de las 
gamonas, the plain of asphodels. 

At a higher level begins the Pinar or forest 
of that most beautiful of all pines, the native Pinus 
canariensis. Here on the lower cultivated ground 
the few specimens that remain, having escaped 
complete destruction, are mostly mutilated, having 
had all their lower branches cut for firewood or 
possibly for fear they should shade some little patch 
of potatoes or onions, and the younger trees 
resemble a mop more than a tree, with nothing left 
but a tuft of fluffy branches at the top. 

The little town of Icod de los Vinos is prettily 
situated, being built on a great slope, intersected 
by many streams of lava. There is a very pic- 
turesque Plaza with a little garden and fountain in 
front of the old convent of San Augustin, whose 
facade has several carved latticed balconies which 
are the great beauty of all the old houses in 
Teneriffe. 



CONVENT OF SANT AUGUSTIN, ICOD DE LOS VINOS 



TENERIFFE 



89 



Visitors to Icod are all taken to see their famous 
dragon tree, Dracaena Draco, of which the in- 
habitants are justly proud, as it is now the largest 
and oldest in the island since the destruction of its 
rival in Villa Orotava. We were assured its age 
was over 3000 years, an assertion I was not 
prepared to dispute, and hardly even ventured to 
look incredulous, and so cast a slur on their almost 
sacred El drago. There is no doubt the growth of 
these trees is almost incredibly slow ; they increase 
in height in the same way as a palm, putting out 
new leaves in the heart of the tufted crowns and 
dropping an equal number of old ones, which 
process leaves a curiously scarred marking on the 
bark. No one seems to know how often a tuft 
flowers, but certainly only once in many years, and 
it is only after flowering that the stem forks, so in 
specimens which are centuries old the head of the 
tree becomes a mass of short branches with tufted 
heads, which in their turn become divided, and so 
it goes on until one begins to wonder whether there 
is not some truth in the immense age attributed 
to them. The curious aerial roots which descend 
from the branches gradually creep down, and it is 
the layers upon layers of these that strengthen the 



90 



CANARY ISLANDS 



original stem sufficiently to enable it to bear the 
immense weight of its tufted crown, as decay seems 
always to set in in the heart of the stem, and by the 
time the trees attain to a venerable age they are 
invariably hollow. An old document describing 
the tree says " it has no heart within. The wood 
is very spongy and light, so that it serves for the 
covering of hives or making shields. The gum 
which this tree exudes is called dragon's blood, and 
that which the tree sweats out without cutting is 
the best, and is called £ blood by the drop.' It is 
very good for medicine, for sealing letters, and for 
making the teeth red." 

Icod is a good centre for expeditions, and those 
who are brave enough to face the dirt and discom- 
fort of a Spanish fonda can pass a week or so very 
pleasantly. It is a matter of great regret that 
better accommodation is not available in many of 
the smaller towns, and I own that personally I 
could never bring myself to face the native inn. 
No scenery is worth the discomfort of dirty beds, 
impossible food and the noise of the patio of 
a fonda , where as often as not, goats, chickens, 
pigeons and a braying donkey all add to the concert 
of the harsh loud voices of the women servants. 



TENERIFFE 



91 



Now that motor-cars are available in Orotava it 
renders matters much easier for making expeditions 
in the day. Formerly, the greater part of the day 
was occupied by the drive to and from Icod, but 
if an early start is made, on arrival at Icod there 
is still a long day before one, and it is possible to 
make a visit to the old Guanche burial caves or to 
continue the road to Garachico. This now unim- 
portant little village was once the chief port of the 
island, and the number of old churches and con- 
vents still remaining speak for themselves of the 
former importance of the place. In the days when 
Icod de los Vinos, as its name implies, was cele- 
brated for its vines, the wine which was made 
there was shipped from the port of Garachico. The 
old sugar factory which still stands was once the 
property of an English firm, but the various booms 
in the wine, cochineal and sugar trade, are things 
of the past, and Orotava is now the centre of the 
banana boom. 

Possibly the pleasantest expeditions from Icod 
are those which lead through the pine forest past 
the Ermita Sta. Barbara. Good walkers will find 
magnificent walks along fairly level paths once 
they have accomplished the first climb of about 



92 



CANARY ISLANDS 



3000 ft., and can make their way along to the 
Corona and down the steep zig-zag path below 
Icod el Alto, or there is a lower track which" makes 
a good mule ride back to Orotava. 



VII 



TENERIFFE {continued) 

Many visitors to Teneriffe find their way across 
the mountains from Orotava to Guimar in the 
course of the winter or spring, which is the best 
time for the expedition. Though the actual time 
required for the journey from point to point may 
be only about seven hours, according to the con- 
dition of the road, it is best to make an early start 
and to have the whole day before one, so as to 
have plenty of time to rest on the way and enjoy 
all there is to be seen. 

Once the last steep streets of the Villa Orotava 
are left behind the country at once changes its 
aspect. The banana fields, which have become 
somewhat monotonous after a long stay in their 
midst, have vanished, the air is cooler, and in 
the early morning the ground is saturated with 
dew. In spring the young corn makes the 
country intensely green, and the pear and other 

93 



/ 



94 



CANARY ISLANDS 



fruit blossoms lighten up the landscape, while in 
the hedge-rows are clumps of the little red 
Fuchsia coccinea, and great bushes of the common 
yellow broom. Here and there the two Canary 
St. John's worts, Hypericum canariensis and 
H. floribundum, are covered with berries, their 
flowers having fallen some months before. Ferns 
and sweet violets grow on the damp and shady 
banks, and occasionally fine bushes of Cytisus prolifer 
were to be seen smothered with their soft, silky- 
looking white flowers. Gradually the region of 
the chestnut woods is reached, but these having 
only dropped their leaves after the spell of cold 
weather early in January, are still leafless, and it is 
sad to see how terribly the trees are mutilated by the 
peasants. Though not allowed to fell whole trees, 
the law does not appear to protect their branches, 
and often nothing but the stump and a few 
straggling boughs remain, the rest having been 
hacked off for firewood. Small bushes of the 
white-flowered Erica arborea soon appear, and the 
showy rose-coloured flowers of Cistus vaginatus 
were new to me. 

At a height of about 3800 feet the level of the 
strong stream called Agua Mansa is reached, and 



TENERIFFE 



95 



though it is not actually on the road to Guimar 
many travellers make a short detour to visit the 
source of the stream and the beautifully wooded 
valley. The absence of woods in the lower country 
no doubt makes the vegetation on the steep slopes 
of the little gorge doubly appreciated. Many 
narrow paths lead through the laurel and heath, 
and on the shady side of the valley the extreme 
moisture of the air has clothed the stems of the 
trees with grey hoary lichens. The luxury of the 
sound of a running stream is rare in TenerifTe and 
one is tempted to linger and enjoy the scene under 
a giant chestnut tree, which has shaded many a 
picnic party from the Puerto. 

By retracing one's steps for a short distance the 
track is regained ; Pedro Gil looms far ahead and 
the long steep ascent begins, up the narrow mule 
path among thickets of the tree heaths. Here 
these heaths are merely shrubby, not the splendid 
specimens which may be seen near Agua Garcia, 
where they are protected from the charcoal 
burners, but the wide stretches covered with 
white flowers are very lovely appearing through 
the mist, which even on the finest day is apt to 
sweep across occasionally. The vegetation on 



96 



CANARY ISLANDS 



these Cumbres is much the same as that which is 
passed through on the way to the Canadas, and in 
spring the Adenocarpus viscosus or anagyrus, its 
tiny yellow flowers growing among the small 
leaves which crowd the branches, is about the last 
sign of plant life. Above this region are merely 
occasional patches of moss which live on the 
moisture of the mist which more often than not 
enwraps these heights. In clear weather, the long 
and rather tedious scramble of the last part of the 
road is soon forgotten in the delight at the 
magnificent view at the end. The top of the pass, 
6800 ft., is like the back-bone of the island, and 
on the one side the whole valley of Orotava lies 
stretched below, with the Peak standing grand 
and majestic on the left, and on the other side lie 
the slopes down to the pine woods above Arafo. 
It is hard to agree with a writer who describes 
the scene as one of "immense desolation and 
ugliness, the silence broken only by the croaking 
voice of a crow passing overhead." It is just this 
silence and stillness which appeals to so many in 
mountain regions ; there is something intensely 
restful yet awe-inspiring in the complete peace 
which reigns in high altitudes in fair weather. 



TENERIFFE 



97 



A long pause is necessary to rest both man and 
beast, as not only is the path a long and trying 
one, but it is possible for the sun to be so ex- 
tremely hot even at that altitude that it seems to 
bake the steep and arid slopes of lava and volcanic 
sand, and the loose cinders near the end of the 
climb make bad going for the mules. The so- 
called path becomes almost invisible except to the 
quick eye of the mules, accustomed as they are to 
pick their way across these stretches of loose 
scoria?. Often the question " Which is the way ? " 
is met by the owner of the mule answering "// 
mulo sabe" (the mule knows), instead of saying, 
" To the right " or " To the left," and I generally 
found he was right. 

Many people prefer the ascent to the descent, 
and certainly though I have nothing but praise for 
mules as a means of locomotion going uphill, 
there are moments when I preferred to trust to my 
own legs going down the loose cindery track. 

The fact that the eastern mountain slopes are 
warmer and drier, as the rainfall is not so great, 
encourages the vegetation to rise to a much 
higher altitude and the barren world of lava and 
cinders is sooner left behind. Our old friend the 

G 



98 



CANARY ISLANDS 



Adenocarpus soon greeted us, like a pioneer of 
plant life, and gradually came the different regions 
of pine, tree heaths, laurels, and then the grassy- 
slopes. 

The gorge known as the Valle is described as 
" one of the most stupendous efforts of eruptive 
force to be seen in the world, the gap appearing 
to have been absolutely thrown into space." A 
network of what might well be mistaken for dykes 
seems to cut up the surface, and the whole forma- 
tion of the Valle is of great interest to geologists. 
To the ordinary observer it is certainly suggestive 
of a desolate waste, and the black hill known as 
the Volcan of 1705 does not help to give life to 
the scene. The white lichen, which is the true 
pioneer of plant life, is only beginning to appear, 
though in crevices where deep cracks in the lava 
have probably exposed soil below the sturdy 
Euphorbias are getting a hold, and a few other 
robust plants, such as the feathery Sonchus lepto- 
cephalus, which I have always noticed seems to revel 
in lava. Possibly another century may make a great 
difference to the scene, but certainly during the 
past two hundred years there has not been much 
sign of returning vegetation, and the fiery stream 



TENERIFFE 



99 



has done its work thoroughly. The relief is great 
at once more reaching the pine woods above Arafo, 
and the fatigue, not peril, of the descent being 
over it is pleasant to find the comfort of the well- 
named Buen Retiro Hotel at Guimar. 

Though over a thousand feet above the sea, the 
situation is so sheltered that Guimar boasts of one 
of the best and sunniest climates in Teneriffe, the 
little village lying as it were in a nest among the 
hills. The flowery garden of the hotel tells its own 
tale, better than any advertisement or guide-book, 
and a week may be spent exploring the various 
barrancos in the neighbourhood, especially by 
botanists, or lovers of plants. The Barranco del 
Rio is renowned as being about the best botanical 
collecting ground in the island. Dr. Morris says 
he found there no fewer than a hundred different 
species of native plants, many of which he had not 
seen elsewhere. The dripping rocks are clothed 
with maiden-hair fern, and the giant buttercup, 
Ranunculus cortuscefolius, appears to revel in the 
damp and the high air. The Barranco Badajoz 
is perhaps wilder and more precipitous ; in places 
the rocky walls of these gorges rise to 200 ft., and 
appeal immensely to those who enjoy wild scenery. 



100 



CANARY ISLANDS 



The lack of a roaring river tumbling down them I 
never quite got over, during all my stay in Tene - 
riffe. Perhaps in a bygone age they existed, and 
owing to some eruption cracks were formed and 
the water vanished, as the bed of the stream seems 
to be there, but, alas ! no water or only a trickling 
stream. The tiniest stream has to be utilised to 
provide water for a village below or for irrigation 
purposes, and this, combined with the deforestation 
of the island, no doubt has helped to drain the 
barrancos. There is more water in the Guimar 
ravines than in most, and from tl anco del 

Rio or the Madre del Agua I should imagine the 
whole water-supply of the village is derived. 

Those who are interested in relics should visit 
Socorro, about an hour distant from Guimar, the 
original 4 home of the miraculous image of the Virgin 
de Candelaria. So celebrated was this image that 
nearly a whole book on the subject has been issued 
by the Hakluyt Society, edited and translated from 
old documents by Sir Clement Markham. The 
image is supposed to have been found in about the 
year 1400, by some shepherds, standing upright 
on a stone in a dry deserted spot near the sandy 
beach. A cross was afterwards erected by 



TENERIFFE 



101 



Christians when the Spaniards occupied the island 
to mark the spot, and in front of it was built the 
small hermitage called El Socorro. One shepherd 
saw what he supposed to be a woman carrying a 
child standing in his path, and as the law in those 
days forbad a man to speak to a woman alone in 
a solitary place, on pain of death, he made signs 
to her to move away in order that he and his sheep 
might pass. No notice being taken and no reply 
made, he took up a stone in order to hurl it at the 
supposed woman, but his arm became instantly 
stiff, and he could not move it. His companion, 
though filled with fear, sought to ascertain whether 
she was a living woman, and tried to cut one of 
her fingers, but only cut his own, and did not even 
mark the finger of the image. These accordingly 
were the two first miracles of the sacred figure. 

These shepherds related their experiences to the 
Lord of Guimar, who after being shown the stifr 
arm and cut fingers of the men, summoned his 
councillors to consult as to what had best be done. 
Accompanied by his followers and guided by the 
shepherds, he came to the spot and ordered the 
shepherds to lift the figure, as it apparently was 
no living thing, and to remove it to his house. 



102 



CANARY ISLANDS 



On approaching the image to carry out their 
Lord's orders, the stiff arm of the one and the 
cut fingers of the other instantly became cured. 
The Lord and his followers were so struck 
with the strange and splendid dress of the 
woman, who was now invested as well with super- 
natural powers, that they lost their first terror. 
Determined to do honour to so strange a guest 
within his dominions, the Lord of Guimar raised 
the image in his arms and transported it to his 
own house. 

Unbelievers say that the image was merely the 
figure-head of a ship which was washed up on the 
beach, but the faithful maintain that so beautiful 
was the image, so gorgeous its apparel and so 
brilliant the gold with which it was gilded, that it 
was the work of no human hands, and contact 
with the sea would have destroyed the brilliancy of 
its colouring. 

The Lord of Guimar sent the news of the 
wonderful discovery to the other chiefs in the 
island, offering that the image, evidently endowed 
with supernatural and healing powers, should spend 
half the year within the territory of the Lord of 
Taoro. This offer was declined, but the chief 



TENERIFFE 



10S 



came with many followers to see the new wonder, 
which was set up on the altar in a cave and guarded 
with great care. For some forty years the image 
remained in the care of infidels, who regarded it 
with great awe, and then it fell to the lot of a 
boy named Auton, who had been converted to 
Christianity by the Spaniards, to enlighten the 
natives as to the nature of their treasure. On 
being shown the figure he instantly recognised it 
as being a representation of the Virgin, and after 
having prayed before it, he instructed the natives 
in the story of the Virgin Mary. The boy was in 
return made sacristan of the image and it was 
guarded day and night. At certain intervals 
visions of processions on the beach were seen and 
remains of wax candles were found, and a shower of 
wax upon the beach was supposed to have been 
sent to provide wax for candles to be burnt in 
honour of Our Lady of Candelaria. 

The neighbouring islands soon heard tales of 
the holy relic and the inhabitants came to visit it. 
For several centuries wonderful miracles were at 
different times ascribed to it, and it continued to be 
regarded with the deepest reverence, though the 
housing and care of the image was the cause of 



104 



CANARY ISLANDS 



various feuds, and on one occasion it was stolen 
and carried away to Fuerteventura, but was 
returned. 

Unfortunately, during a great storm in 1826, 
the holy relic was swept away into the sea, and 
thus was the original Virgin de Candelaria lost, 
and though a new image was made and blessed by 
the Pope it has never been regarded with quite the 
same awe and reverence, though many pilgrims 
visit the church on August 15, the feast of 
Candelaria, and again on February 2. 



VIII 



GRAND CANARY 

I have noticed that there is always a certain 
amount of jealousy existing between the in- 
habitants of a group of islands. In old days they 
were of course absolutely unknown to each other, 
and even spoke such a different language that they 
had some difficulty in making themselves under- 
stood. Though such is naturally not the case 
to-day when in a few hours the little Interinsular 
steamers cross from one island to another, still in 
Teneriffe you are apt to be told there is nothing 
to be seen in Grand Canary, or if you happen to 
visit Las Palm as first you will probably be told 
you are wasting your time in proposing to spend 
some weeks or months in Teneriffe or in even 
contemplating a flying visit to the other islands. 

It was with a feeling of great curiosity that I 
watched our approach to Grand Canary, as one 
evening late in May our steamer crept round the 

105 



106 



CANARY ISLANDS 



isthmus known as La Isleta and glided into the 
harbour of Puerto de la Luz. Many towns look 
their best from the sea and this is perhaps 
especially true of Las Palmas. The sun was 
setting behind the low hills which rise above the 
long line of sand dunes, dotted with tamarisks, 
running between the port and the isleta, and 
in the evening light the town itself, some three 
miles away, looked far from unattractive, its 
cathedral towers rising above the palm trees on 
the shore. 

On landing the illusion is soon destroyed ; the 
dust, which is the curse of Las Palmas, was being 
blown gaily along by the north-east wind, which 
seems to blow perpetually, and the steam tram 
which connects the port and the town was grinding 
along, emitting showers of black smoke, and I 
began to think the writer was not far wrong who 
said Las Palmas was " a place of barbed wire and 
cinders." 

Most travellers' destination is the hotel at Santa 
Catalina, lying midway between the port and the 
town, and here many of them remain for the rest of 
their stay, not being tempted ever to set foot out- 
side the pleasant grounds and comfortable hotel, 



LAS PAL MAS 



GRAND CANARY 



107 



except possibly to play a game of golf on the 
links above, which are a great attraction and boon 
to those who are spending the winter basking in 
the sunshine in search of health. 

The island appears to have altered its name from 
Canaria to Gran Canaria because of the stout 
resistance offered by the natives, who called them- 
selves Canarios, to the Spanish invasion. The 
original name is said to have had some connection 
with the breed of large dogs peculiar to the island, 
though none appear to exist now. As regards the 
shape of the island the following is a very good 
description : " The form of the island is nearly 
circular, and greatly resembles a saucerful of mud 
turned upside down, with the sides furrowed by 
long and deep ravines. The highest point is a 
swelling upland known as Los Pechos, 6401 ft." 
I own that as I approached the island there was 
-a curious sense of something lacking, something 
missing, and then I realised that we were no 
longer to live under the shadow of the Peak, that 
an occasional distant glimpse is all we should see 
of the great mountain which we had grown to 
look on as a friend. 

The nearest object of interest to the hotel is the 



108 



CANARY ISLANDS 



Santa Catalina fountain, where in August 1492, 
after praying in the chapel, Christopher Columbus 
filled his water-barrels with a store of water which 
was to last him until the New World was sighted. 
Columbus on each of his expeditions touched at 
the Canaries; but at the very outset of his first 
voyage, one of his ships having lost her rudder and 
suffered other damage in storms encountered on 
the way, Columbus cruised for three weeks among 
the islands in search of another vessel to replace 
his caravel. Though he heard rumours of three 
Portuguese caravels hovering off the coast of Ferro 
(now called Hierro) three days' calm detained him, 
and by the time he reached the neighbourhood 
where the ships had been seen, they had vanished, 
and repairing his rudder as best he could he started 
in search of an unknown land, eventually reaching 
one of the Bahama group. Columbus' next visit 
to the Canaries was on his second voyage of dis- 
covery, when he again called at the islands, this 
time taking wood, water, live stock, plants and 
seeds to be propagated in Hispaniola, where he had 
already been so struck with the beautiful and varied 
vegetation. In the town of Las Palmas an old 
house is pointed out as the house where Christopher 



GRAND CANARY 



109 



Columbus died ; but I am afraid, if we are to 
believe historians, this is merely a flight of the 
imagination. In Washington Irving's " Life of 
Columbus" we are told that he died at Seville 
surrounded by devoted friends, and a note says : 
" The body of Columbus was first deposited in the 
convent of St. Francisco, and his obsequies were 
celebrated with funereal pomp in the parochial 
church of Santa Maria de la Antigua, in Valladolid. 
His remains were transported in 1513 to the Car- 
thusian convent of Las Cuevas, in Seville. In the 
year 1536 the bodies of Columbus and his son 
Diego were removed to Hispaniola and interred by 
the side of the grand altar of the cathedral of the 
city of San Domingo. But even here they did not 
rest in quiet ; for on the cession of Hispaniola to 
the French in 1795 they were again disinterred, 
and conveyed by the Spaniards with great pomp 
and ceremony to the cathedral of Havanna in 
Cuba, where they remain at present." 

One of the easiest expeditions from Las Palmas 
is along the main road to the south of the island, 
either driving or by motor. Long stretches of 
banana fields provide the fruit for the English 
market, which finds its way daily on to the mole ; 



110 



CANARY ISLANDS 



and in spring hundreds of carts, with potato-boxes 
labelled "Covent Garden," come from the same 
district. A little way before reaching the village 
of Tinama, which is built amid desolate surround- 
ings of lava and black cinders, the road passes 
through a tunnel, which must have been somewhat 
of an undertaking to bore, and then a vast bed of 
lava crosses the road. Here some huge clumps of 
Euphorbia canariensis show that this plant is not 
peculiar to any one island, but is equally at home 
on any bed of lava or cliff. 

Telde, famous for its oranges — said to be the best 
in the world — is not a very interesting town ; but 
from a little distance, combined with the almost ad- 
joining village of Los Llanos, its Moorish dome amid 
groves of palm trees, and scattered groups of white 
houses, make it unlike most other Canary towns. 
The celebrated orange groves are some distance off, 
and it is feared that so little care is taken of the 
trees that the disease and blight which have ravaged 
nearly all the groves in the archipelago will soon 
attack these. The disease could be kept at bay by 
insecticides and combined effort, but it is no use 
for one grower to wage war against the pest, if his 
neighbour calmly allows it to get ahead in his groves, 



GRAND CANARY 



111 



though the excellence of the oranges makes it seem 
as if they deserved more care. If disaster overtakes 
the banana trade — and already I heard whispers 
of grumbling at the absurd price of land, and 
rumours of as good land and plenty of water to 
be had on the West Coast of Africa, where labour 
is half the price — possibly orange-growing may be 
taken up by men who have learnt their experience 
in Florida, and by careful cultivation another golden 
harvest may be reaped. 

The ultimate destination of most travellers in 
this direction is the Montana de Jas Cuatro Puertas 
(the Mountain of the Four Doors), which is a most 
curious and interesting example of a native place 
of worship. The Canarios seem to have been 
especially fond of cave-dwellings, which are very 
common in Grand Canary, though they are by no 
means unknown in the other islands ; and it is no 
unusual thing to find districts where a scanty 
population is troglodytic in habit, living entirely 
in cave-dwellings scooped out of the soft sandstone 
rock. Some families have quite a good-sized 
though strange home, and besides rooms with 
whitewashed walls are stables for goats or mules. 
One writer says : " The hall-mark of gentility in 



112 



CANARY ISLANDS 



troglodyte circles is the possession of a door. This 
shows that the family pays house-tax, which is not 
levied upon those who live the simpler life, and are 
content with an old sack hanging across the open 
doorway." 

Webb and Berthelot, in their " Histoire Natu- 
relle," seem to have been much struck by these 
cave-dwellings, and the following account appears 
in their description of the Ciudad de las Palmas : 
" The slopes above the town on the west are pierced 
by grottoes inhabited by families of artisans ; 
narrow paths have been made in the face of the 
cliffs by which to get to these excavations. After 
sunset, when the mountain is in deep shadow, the 
troglodyte quarter begins to light up, and all these 
aerial lights, which shine for a moment and then 
instantly disappear, produce the most curious effect." 
The " Mountain of the Four Doors " is of much 
larger dimensions than any ordinary cave-dwelling, 
as the whole mountain appears to have been 
excavated, and would certainly have made a very 
draughty dwelling, as the four entrances which 
give the mountain its name are only separated by 
columns, thus allowing free entrance to the wind. 
The sacred hill is said to have been partly occupied 



GRAND CANARY 



113 



by embalmers of the dead, the mummies being 
eventually removed to the burial cave on one side. 
Another side of the hill was the residence of the 
Fay cans, or priests, who conducted the funeral 
ceremony ; and there were the consecrated virgins, 
or harimaguedas, who were here kept in the strictest 
seclusion for years, employed in the gruesome 
occupation of sewing the goat- skins for wrapping 
up the mummies. The Canarios appear to have 
regarded a shelf in the burial cave running north 
and south as being the most honourable position, 
and on these they placed the bodies of highest rank, 
judging from the mummies found on them, as the 
leather is often richly embroidered, and the greatest 
care was taken in embalming the bodies. The in- 
feriors were laid east and west. Any one who is 
interested in the study of the Canary mummies will 
find much to interest them in the Museum in Las 
Palmas, which is said to be richer in remains of 
aboriginals than any other museum in the world. 
Here may be seen rows of mummies in glass cases, 
some curious pottery, and the Pintaderas, or dyes, 
which were used to stamp designs on the skin or 
leather. 

In the same museum the sight of the fearsome 

H 



114 



CANARY ISLANDS 



"devil-fish," in the room devoted to local fishes, 
must, I think, have made many visitors from Orotava 
shudder to think of the light-hearted way in which 
they had gaily bathed on the Martianez beach — an 
amusement I often considered dangerous from the 
strength of the breakers and the strong under- 
current ; but when added to this I was assured 
the monster, which is said to embrace its victims and 
carry them away under water after the manner of the 
octopus, was " not uncommon round the Canaries," 
I was thankful to think I had never indulged in 
bathing. 



AN OLD BALCONY 



IX 



GRAND CANARY {continued) 

Many of the residents of Las Palmas move to the 
Monte for the summer, but even in late spring 
most people are glad to get away from the town and 
the white dust, which by then is lying ankle deep 
on the roads. Monte is the only other place which 
the ordinary traveller will care to stay in, as the 
native inns in Grand Canary bear a bad reputation 
for discomfort and dirt, and the Monte makes a 
good centre for expeditions, besides being an entire 
change of air and scene. 

The last part of the drive up from the town 
which is only some six or seven miles, affords good 
views of the lie of the land and makes one realise 
the immense length of the barrancos in this island. 
It appears never to be safe to assert the name of a 
barranco, as it is not uncommon for one ravine to 
have four or five different names in the course of its 
wanderings towards the sea. The great barranco 

115 



116 



CANARY ISLANDS 



one looks down into from the road beyond Tafira is 
called at this point the Barranco del Dragonal. 

A century ago this district was a mere expanse of 
cinders interspersed with the usual Canary plants 
which find a home in the most desolate of lava beds. 
Clumps of Euphorbias and its two inseparable 
companions, the miniature dragon tree, Senecio 
Kleinia, and the graceful Plocama pendula broke 
the monotony of the grey lava. Now the scene 
has changed and this once desolate region has been 
transformed into one of the most fertile districts of 
the island. On the terraced slopes vines flourish, 
whose grapes produce the best red Canary wine. 
Footpaths bordered with flowers lead through 
these countless acres of vineyards, recalling the 
fashion in Teneriffe of the flower borders, passeios, 
which lead through many of the banana plantations, 
showing that the "owner of the land still had some 
soul for gardening and a love of flowers, as he 
spared a strip of the precious soil for flowers. 
Many an alley in early winter is gay with rows of 
poinsettias feeding and flourishing on the water 
and guano which is given to the crop with a lavish 
hand, or rows of scarlet and white geraniums 
flank rose trees, interspersed here and there with 



GRAND CANARY 



117 



great clumps of white lilies. The country in late 
spring is fragrant and gay from the bushes of Spanish 
broom (Spartinm junceum) which edge the lanes ; 
their yellow blossoms are in charming contrast to 
the soft grey-green of the old agaves, which make 
such excellent hedges. 

Just behind the Monte lies the great basin of the 
Caldera. It is best seen from the Pico de Bandama, 
a hill 1840 ft., which not only commands an excellent 
view of the crater, but of all the country round. 
The Gran Caldera de Bandama, a vast complete 
basin with no outlet, is over a mile across and 1000 ft. 
deep, and consequently is one of the most perfect 
craters in the world. The walls are formed of rocks 
and here and there vivid bits of colouring speak for 
themselves of its origin, and round the edge are layers 
of cinders. It is to be hoped that it will not some 
day come to life again and throw up a peak, as the 
basin of the Canadas is supposed to have thrown 
up the great cone of the Peak of Teneriffe. It 
looks peaceable enough to-day, a mule track lead- 
ing down into it. At the bottom of the crater 
vines are cultivated, and a farmer calmly lives on 
what was once a boiling cauldron. 

The vines seem to thrive in the volcanic soil, 



118 



CANARY ISLANDS 



their roots go down deep in search of damper loam 
below, and this possibly helps to keep them free of 
disease, though in spring the effect of the tender 
green shoots with their long twining tendrils is 
sadly spoilt when, just as they are coming into 
flower, the mandate goes forth to dust the growth 
with sulphur. The men and women, who for the 
past weeks have been busy gathering in the potato 
crop, are now employed in sulphur dusting. For 
two months or more whole families are engaged 
with the potato harvest; the rows are either 
ploughed up with a primeval-looking plough, or 
hoed with the broad native hoe, which does duty 
for spade or fork in this country, and then the 
potatoes are collected with great rapidity, even the 
smallest member of the family helping, sorted and 
packed in deal boxes holding each some 60 or 
70 lb., with a layer of palm fibre on the top, and 
shipped to England. It is well known that Canary 
new potatoes do not command a very good price in 
the English market, and I often wondered whether 
it is not the kind which is at fault. Kidney 
potatoes, which are regarded in England as the 
best for new potatoes, are hardly ever grown, the 
Spaniards regarding them with horror and loathing, 



» 



> 



A BANANA CART 



GRAND CANARY 



119 



and though English seed is imported annually, the 
result to my mind seemed unsatisfactory, as 1 
never came across any young potatoes worthy of 
the name "new potatoes." Possibly the soil and 
climate are unsuited, and there is a tendency I was 
told in all varieties to excessive growth, and no 
doubt the green peas and broad beans, which are 
most suited to English soil, often here grow to 
mammoth proportions, giving a poor result as a 
crop, and it is only experience which proves which 
are the varieties best suited to the climate and soil. 
The peas which are grown from seed ripened in 
the island degenerate to tasteless, colourless speci- 
mens, producing tiny pods, with at the outside 
three peas in them, and the French beans have 
the same lack of flavour when grown from native 
seed. 

Potatoes and tomatoes are both unfortunately 
liable to disease, and in some seasons the whole 
crop is lost. The same disease appears to affect 
both crops. Dr. Morris, when he visited the 
islands, thought seriously of the outlook, unless 
systematic action was taken. He says : 6 ' There is 
a remedy if carefully applied and the crop super- 
intended, but the islanders seem to regard the 



120 



CANARY ISLANDS 



trouble with strange indifference, and go on the 
plan of ' If one crop fails, then plant another.' " 

The volcanic soil appears to suit cultivated garden 
plants, as well as vines, bananas and potatoes, and 
the, gardens in the neighbourhood of Telde are a 
blaze of colour and have a wonderful wealth of 
bloom in May, which is essentially the "flower 
month" in all the islands. Earlier in the winter 
it is true the creepers will have been at their best, 
and by now the last trumpet-shaped blooms will 
have fallen from that most gorgeous of all creepers, 
Bignonia venusta, and the colour will have faded 
from the bougainvilleas, red, purple, or lilac, 
though they seem to be in almost perpetual bloom. 
Allemandas flourish even at this higher altitude, as 
does Thumbergia grandijlora, another tropical plant. 
Though its bunches of grey-blue gloxinia-like 
blooms are beautiful enough individually, it is 
sadly marred by the dead blossoms which hang on 
to the bitter end and are singularly ugly in death, 
not having the grace to drop and leave the new- 
comers to deck the yards of trailing branches, 
with which the plant will in an incredibly short 
time smother a garden wall or take possession of 
and eventually kill a neighbouring tree. Roses 



AN OLD GATEWAY 



GRAND CANARY 



121 



seem to flourish and bloom so profusely that the 
whole bush is covered with blossoms, and a garden 
of roses would well repay the little care the plants 
seem to require. The Spaniards prefer to prune 
their roses but once a year, in January, but by 
pruning in rotation roses could be had all the year 
round, and certainly half the trees should be cut 
in October, after the plants have sent up long 
straggling summer growth, and by January a fresh 
crop would be in flower. But the native gardener 
is nothing if not obstinate, and if January is the 
month for pruning according to his ideas, nothing 
will make him even make an experiment by cutting 
a few trees at a different season, and in this month 
are cut creepers, trees and shrubs, utterly regard- 
less as to whether it is the best season or not. 

In most gardens the trees comprise several 
different Ficus, the Pride of India (Melia Aze- 
darach), many palms, oranges, mangos and guavas, 
lagerstrcemias, pomegranates and daturas, while 
flower-beds are filled with carnations, stocks, 
cinerarias, hollyhocks and longiflorum lilies, all 
jostling each other in their struggle for room. The 
country people struck me as having a much greater 
love of flowers here than in Teneriffe, where a 



122 



CANARY ISLANDS 



cared-for strip of cottage garden or row of pot 
plants is almost a rare sight, and roof gardening is 
perhaps more the fashion. Geraniums and other 
hanging plants tumble over the edge of the flat 
roof tops, looking as though they lived on air, as 
the boxes or tins they are grown in are out of 
sight. Here the humblest cottager grew carna- 
tions, fuchsias, begonias, and pelargoniums with 
loving care in every old tin box, or saucepan, that 
he could lay hands on. One reason that pot plants 
are scarce is the enormous cost of flower-pots, 
which are mostly imported, and often if I wished 
to buy a plant, the price was more than doubled if 
the precious pot was to be included in the bargain. 
In May, the month especially consecrated to the 
Virgin Mary, all her chapels and wayside shrines 
are kept adorned with flowers. In the larger 
churches the altar and steps are draped with blue 
and white, and piled up with great white lilies 
whose heavy scent mingling with the incense is 
almost overpowering, but in the humbler shrines 
the offerings are merely the contributions of posies 
of mixed flowers, placed there probably by many 
a woman who is called after Our Lady. I was 
always struck by the number of way-side crosses and 



GRAND CANARY 



123 



tiny shrines in many of which a lamp shines nightly, 
and yet I cannot say the people seemed to be either 
reverent or deeply religious, and 1 was never able 
to obtain an explanation of the crosses one came 
across in unexpected places, even in the branches 
of trees in the garden. At first I thought they 
must be votive offerings in memory of an escape 
from danger, possibly a child who had fallen from 
the tree and escaped unhurt, but the gardener 
merely said it was costumbre, the custom of the 
country, and offered no further information. On 
May 3, the Fiesta de la Cruz, every cross, how- 
ever humble, is decked with a garland of flowers, 
which often hangs there until the feast comes 
round again, and in front of many of the crosses a 
lamp is lighted on this one night in the year. 

On holidays and Sundays the women, especially 
those who are on their way to Mass, wore their 
white cashmere mantillas, and I inquired whether 
this also had any connection with " Our Lady's " 
month of May, but I was told in old days they 
were the almost universal head-dress, a fashion 
which unfortunately is fast dying out. % This 
appeared to be the only distinctively local feature 
of their dress, and the usual head-dress of the 



124 CANARY ISLANDS 

women and children, with bright-coloured handker- 
chiefs folded closely round the forehead and knotted 
in the nape of the neck, is common to all the 
islands. When the family is in mourning even the 
smallest member of the household wears a black 
handkerchief matching its bright black eyes, but 
the day I fear is fast approaching when battered 
straw hats will take their place, not the jaunty 
little round hats with black-bound brims, which 
every country woman wears to act as a pad for 
the load she carries on her head. For generations 
the women have carried water-pots and baskets 
which many an English working man would 
consider a crushing load, and no one can fail to 
admire their splendid carriage and upright bearing, 
as they stride along never even steadying their 
load with one hand. The only peculiarity of the 
men's dress is their blanket cloaks ; in some of the 
islands they are made of mantas woven from native 
wool, but as often as not an imported blanket is 
used, gathered into a leather or black velvet collar 
at the neck. On a chilly evening in a mountain 
village every man and boy is closely wrapped in 
his ma?ita, often it must be owned in an indescrib- 
able state of filth. At night they do duty as a 



GRAND CANARY 



125 



blanket on the bed, and in the day are dragged 
through dust or mud, but cleanliness is not re- 
garded in Spanish cottages, where chickens, goats, 
and sometimes a pig all seem to share the common 
living-room. 

I fear the few model dwellings which the tourist 
is invited to inspect at Atalaya (the Watch Tower) 
are not true samples of the average cottage or cave- 
dwelling. Atalaya was formerly a native strong- 
hold, and one can quite imagine what formidable 
resistance the invaders must have met with from 
these primitive fortresses. The narrow ledges cut 
in the face of the cliffs made the approach to them 
almost inaccessible except to the Canarios, who 
appear to have been as agile as goats, and from 
the narrow openings showers of missiles could be 
hurled at the attackers. Atalaya at the present 
time is the home of the pottery makers. They 
fashion the local clay into pots with a round stone 
in just as primitive a way as did the ancient 
Canarios. They seem to live a life apart, and are 
regarded with suspicion by their neighbours, who 
rarely intermarry with them. The whole colony 
are inveterate beggars, old and young alike, but 
as tourists invade their domain in order to say they 



126 



CANARY ISLANDS 



have seen " the most perfect collection of troglo- 
dyte dwellings in the Archipelago," and request 
them to mould pots for their edification, it is 
perhaps not surprising that they expect some 
reward. 



X 



GRAND CANARY (continued) 

Those who do not mind a long day and really early 
start can see a good deal of the country and make 
some very beautiful expeditions without facing the 
terrors of the native inn. When even our guide- 
book — and the writer of a guide-book is surely 
bound to make the best of things — warns the 
traveller that the "accommodation is poor," or 
that " arrangements can be made to secure beds/' 
every one knows what to expect. So a long day, 
however tiring, is preferable, if it is possible to 
return the same night. 

A drive of two hours leads to San Mateo, where 
good accommodation would be a great boon, as it 
is a great centre for expeditions, besides being 
beautifully situated near chestnut and pine woods. 
A rough mule track leads in something under three 
hours to the Cruz de Tejeda, which is about the 
finest excursion in the island. Good walkers will 

127 



128 



CANARY ISLANDS 



probably prefer to trust their own legs rather 
than the mule's ; but it is a stiff climb, as the 
starting-point, San Mateo, is only some 2600 ft. 
above the sea, while the Cruz is 5740 ft. With- 
out descending into the deep Barranco which leads 
down to Tejeda itself, in clear weather the view is 
magnificent. That most curious isolated rock, the 
Roque Nublo, stands like a great pillar or obelisk, 
pointing straight into the heavens, rising 370 ft. 
above all its surroundings, and more than 6000 ft. 
above sea-level, and is often clearly visible from 
TenerifYe. The great valley of Tejeda lies stretched 
before the traveller, who is surely well rewarded 
for his climb by the splendid panorama. Deep 
precipitous ravines full of blue shadows lie in vast 
succession in front, and to the right the cultivated 
patches in the valley are a bright emerald green 
from the young corn, and over the deep blue sea 
beyond, towers the great Peak of Teneriffe, looking 
most majestic and awe-inspiring rising above the 
chain of high mountains which are veiled in a 
light, mysterious mist. Never, perhaps, is the 
great height of the mountain so well realised, 
as it stands crowning a picture which our 
guide-book tells us is "never to be forgotten, 



GRAND CANARY 



129 



and second to none in Switzerland or the 
Alps." 

Another favourite expedition for the energetic is 
to the Cumbres, particularly for those who are bent 
on reaching the highest land in the island. The 
Pico de los Pechos is the highest point (6400 ft.), 
but the Montana de la Cruz Santa, on the left, is 
generally chosen, as here parties of walkers and riders 
can meet, under the shadow of the Holy Cross, where, 
on the festivals of St. Peter and St. John, a religious 
fiesta is held. Before the wholesale deforestation 
took place, this district must certainly have been 
much more beautiful ; now it is a silent, shadowless 
world, a desolate region of stony ground, over 
which run great barrancos looking like deep rents 
in the mountain sides. Probably no other island 
has suffered more cruelly from the axe of the 
charcoal-burner, and in the neighbourhood of Las 
Palmas everything has been cut which could be 
converted into charcoal, and nowadays that neces- 
sary article of life to the Spaniard has to be 
imported. 

One of the most beautiful of all their native 
forests, the forest of Doramas, is hardly worthy 
of its name at the present time; scattered trees 



130 



CANARY ISLANDS 



on the mountain side are all that remains of one 
of the most beautiful of primeval forests, which was 
so celebrated in the days of the Canarios. Even in 
1839, when Barker Webb and Berthelot visited the 
forest, they lamented over the destruction of the 
trees, and whole stretches of country which had 
formerly been pine and laurel woods were only 
covered with native heath. The prince Doramas, 
who is said to have lived in a grotto in the 
picturesque neighbourhood of Moya, gave his name 
to the mountain and forest, and these travellers 
visited his cave, which was still regarded with 
great veneration on account of the tales of the 
heroic and brave deeds and almost superhuman 
strength of the prince, which had been handed 
down from generation to generation. They found 
the door, or rather entrance, to the grotto draped 
with garlands of Hibalbera (Ruscus androgynus) 
and the scarlet-flowered Bicacaro of the Guanches 
(Canarina campanulata), as the spot was then 
solitary and deserted. Some years before the 
Spanish traveller Viera had been charmed by the 
beauty of the forest, and a translation of passages 
from his work on the " General History of the 
Canary Islands" will show what a treasure the 



GRAND CANARY 



1S1 



Spaniards have lost in allowing the destruction of 
the woods. 

"Nature," he says, 44 is here seen in all her 
simplicity, nowhere is she to be found in a more 
gay or laughing mood ; the forest of Doramas is 
one of the most beautiful of the world's creations 
from the variety of its immense straight trees, 
always green and scattering on all sides the wealth 
of their foliage. The sun has never penetrated 
through their dense branches, the ivy has never 
detached itself from their old trunks ; a hundred 
streams of crystal water join together in torrents 
to water the soil which becomes richer and richer 
and more productive. The most beautiful spot of 
all in the depth of this virgin forest is called 
Madres de Moya; the singing of the birds is 
enchanting, and in every direction run paths easy 
of access ; one might believe them to be the work 
of man, but they are all the more delightful 
because they are not. By following one of these 
paths one comes to the spot called by the Canarios, 
the Cathedral, an immense and complete dome of 
verdure formed by the meeting of the branches 
of the magnificent trees. Laurels raise their great 
trunks in colonnades, with their branches inter- 



132 



CANARY ISLANDS 



laced and bent into gigantic arcades, which 
produce a most marvellous effect. Advancing 
under their majestic shadow one discovers at e very- 
turn fresh views, and one s imagination, carried 
away by the tales of the ancients, is filled with 
poetic impressions. These enchanted regions are 
well worthy of the fictions of fables, and in the 
enthusiasm they give birth to when wandering in 
their midst, the Canarios appear to have lost 
nothing of their celebrity; these are still the 
Fortunate Islands and their shady groves the 
Elysium of the Greeks, the wandering place of 
happy souls." 

The poet Cayrasco de Figueroa, who was known 
as the "divin Poete," and whose tomb is to be 
seen in one of the side chapels of the cathedral in 
Las Palmas, wrote verses in praise of the forest, 
which he must have seen in all its glory in 1581, 
and some fifty years later the venerable don 
Christobal de la Camara, Bishop of Grand Canary, 
travelled all through it and wrote of "the 
mountain of d'Oramas as one of the marvels of 
Spain : the different trees growing to such a 
height that it is impossible to see their summit : 
the hand of God only could have planted them, 



GRAND CANARY 



133 



isolated among precipices and in the midst of 
masses of rock. The forest is traversed by 
streams of water and so dense are its woods, that 
even in the days of greatest heat the sun can 
never pierce them. All I had been told before- 
hand of its beauties appeared fabulous, but when I 
had visited it myself I was convinced that I had 
not been told enough." 

Between 1820 and 1830 the forest seems to have 
suffered much. At the former date some part of 
the woods remained in all their pristine beauty on 
the Moya side and the great Til (JLaurus foetens) 
trees round Las Madres were still standing, but ten 
years later, when Barker Webb and his companion 
visited this spot again, these splendid trees were 
shorn of their finest branches and the devastation 
of the woods had begun. 

Long before this date the mountain appears to 
have become an apple of discord. Some influential 
landed proprietors demanded the division of the 
forest, the communes interfered, and eventually the 
question became a political one. Just as a settle- 
ment was arrived at the party in power fell and 
General Morales arrived on the scene, having been 
granted a large part of the forest by Ferdinand VII. 



134 



CANARY ISLANDS 



in recognition of his services, and the deforestation 
of the district began in earnest, in spite of local 
resistance to the royal decree. 

In most of the islands some old pine has been 
given the name of the Pino Santo, and protected 
by a legend of special sanctity, but perhaps the 
Pino Santo of Teror was the most venerated of all, 
The tree, old historians tell us, was of immense 
size and grew adjoining the Chapel of Our Lady; 
so close, in fact, that one of its branches served as 
the foundation of the belfry. The unsteadiness of 
this strange foundation not unnaturally hastened the 
destruction of the little tower, and on April 3, 1684, 
the sacred tree, which collapsed from its great age 
and weight, threatened to crush the chapel beneath. 
The sacred image of Our Lady of the Pine was so 
named because it was said to have been found in 
the branches of the tree. This miraculous discovery 
was made after the conquest in 1483. The 
Canarios had often observed a halo of light round 
the tree which they did not even dare approach, but 
Don Juan de Frias, bishop and conqueror, more 
courageous than the rest, climbed into the 
branches of the tree and brought down a statue 
of the Virgin. He is said to have found the 



THE CANARY PINE 



GRAND CANARY 



135 



image among thick branches and between two 
dragon trees, nine feet high, which were growing 
out of a hollow in the pine branches. The figure 
at once received the name of Nuestro Senora del 
Pino, the church, which has been built on the site 
of the old chapel, being dedicated to her. The 
spot on which stood the sacred tree is now marked 
with a cross, and a pine tree close by is said to be 
a descendant of the Pino Santo. Nor is this all 
the legend about this wonderful tree. A spring of 
healing water issued from beneath it, and here the 
faithful came to bathe and be healed of their ills. 
An avaricious priest thinking he would collect fees 
or alms from those who came to visit the spring, 
caused it to be enclosed by masonry and a door, 
which he kept locked, upon which the sacred 
spring dried up, and his schemes were defeated. 
Below the village to this day are some mineral 
springs dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes. Who 
knows, possibly this is the same sacred spring 
which has reappeared to benefit the sick. 



XI 



LA PALMA 

Every one agrees that La Palma is almost the 
most beautiful of the group of seven Fortunate 
Isles, so it is all the more deeply to be deplored 
that there is not better communication between 
the little port of Santa Cruz de la Palma and 
Teneriffe or Grand Canary. At rare intervals 
during the winter, especially towards sunset, the 
island had emerged from the clouds in which it is 
usually enveloped and lain dark purple against a 
golden sunset sky, an omen which we had learnt 
to dread in Orotava, finding there was great truth 
in the saying of the country people, " When La 
Palma is to be seen, rain will come before two 
days," and sure enough the storm always came. 

The little town of Santa Cruz, or La Ciudad as 
it is locally called, as if it was the only town in the 
world, is most picturesquely situated on steep 
slopes, very much resembling the situation of 

136 



LA PALMA 



137 



Funchal in Madeira on a smaller scale. Possibly 
in days to come La Palma may have a great future 
before it as a tourist resort, when the new mole 
fulfils the hopes of natives and their port becomes 
& coaling-station for larger steamers. An hotel 
among the pine woods would certainly be very 
attractive, especially in spring, when the whole 
island is afoam with fruit blossom. At present a 
bad fonda is the only accommodation in Santa 
Cruz, and most people curtail their stay in conse- 
quence, and hurry away at the end of three days 
during which time the steamer has been at the 
neighbouring islands of Hierro and Gomera, or 
else they ride over to Los Llanos, spurred by the 
report of a very fairly comfortable inn. The island 
affords almost endless expeditions, especially to 
good walkers, as the tracks are bad and slippery 
for mules. Near Santa Cruz the Barranco de la 
Madera is the home of the Virgin de las Nieves, a 
very ancient and much venerated image of the 
Virgin, to whom the church is dedicated. Every 
five years this sacred figure is carried down to the 
sea in solemn procession, and the stone ship at the 
mouth of the great barranco, which is called after 
Our Lady of the Snows, is rigged and decked in 



138 



CANARY ISLANDS 



gala fashion with bunting. Not only from all parts 
of the island, but many devout Spaniards congre- 
gate to do honour to her, and a great fiesta takes 
place, which must be a curious and most interesting 
ceremony. 

The Barranco del Rio is the most beautiful of 
all the walks in the neighbourhood. Like its 
namesake near Guimar in Teneriffe, it is a happy 
hunting-ground for the botanist, and those who 
have a steady head and do not mind narrow paths 
and precipices can wander far along through the 
gorge, where the beautiful rocks are clad with 
innumerable ferns and native plants. 

In ancient days the Guanches gave the island 
the name of Benahoave, meaning " my country," 
which sounds as though they were so proud of the 
island when they took possession of it, probably 
sailing across from Teneriffe, that they meant to 
stick to it. The present name first appears on the 
old Medici map in Florence (1351), which is said 
to be the oldest chart of these waters. The name 
is supposed to have been given to the island by an 
expedition composed of Florentines, Genoese and 
Majorcans who had visited the Canaries some ten 
years before. It was probably the last-named who 



LA PALMA 



139 



christened the island La Palma, after the capital 
of Majorca, so at the time of the conquest, though 
the Spaniards introduced many changes in the way 
of laws, religion and agriculture, they did not 
change the European name by which the island 
had become known. 

Webb and Berthelot when they visited the island 
in 1837 were loud in praise of the wealth and 
luxury of the vegetation, which in their opinion 
surpassed that of any other of the Canary group. 

The island centres in the vast abyss of the Gran 
Caldera, which centuries ago was the boiling caul- 
dron of a great crater. The islanders are immensely 
proud of their old crater, and always assert that 
the Peak of Teneriffe was merely thrown up by 
their volcano in one of its most terrific upheavals. 
As in the other islands at a certain elevation the 
region of laurels and other evergreen trees, in whose 
shade ferns flourish, is succeeded by the mammoth 
heaths, and higher still come the beautiful pine 
woods with their slippery carpet of pine needles on 
which both man and beast find a difficulty in keep- 
ing a footing. On the more arid slopes of parts of 
the Cumbre the scattered vegetation is more sug- 
gestive of Alpine regions. The above-mentioned 



140 



CANARY ISLANDS 



learned travellers attribute the presence of the 
immense number of apparently wild almond and 
other fruit trees to their having sown themselves 
from the original trees introduced to the island 
by the conquerors, who, determined to make the 
most of the climate and soil, set about to change 
the face of the land. The natural vegetation 
receded to the higher regions as the lower parts 
became more and more cultivated with almonds, 
vines, oranges, lemons and bananas, which up to 
then had been unknown in the island. In some 
districts woods of chestnut trees, which were also 
introduced, have taken the place of the virgin 
forest. To these two travellers also belongs the 
honour and glory of having discovered the Echium 
peculiar to the Island, and they at once gave it 
its local name, Ecliium pininana, though nana does 
not seem very appropriate to it, as it is anything 
but dwarf, growing to a height of 15 ft. with a 
dense spike of deep blue flowers. Several of the 
lovely Canary brooms appear to be indigenous to 
the island, and Professor Engler of Berlin, who 
visited La Palma last year, found the yellow- 
flowered Cytisus stenopetalus in two varieties, pal- 
mensis and sericeus, besides the graceful drooping 



LA PALMA 



141 



and sweet-scented white Cytisus ftlipes and Retama 
rhodorrhizoides, and the Cytisus proliferus common 
to most of the islands. 

Most people prefer to visit the great crater from 
Los Llanos, an expedition occupying three days. 
The journey across the Cumbres via El Paso to 
Los Llanos is one of extreme beauty, as the vege- 
tation begins very soon after leaving Santa Cruz, 
and at a height of only 1000 ft. the chestnut, 
laurel, and heath woods begin. The path winds 
through these enchanting woods until at a higher 
elevation the giant heaths alone are left. From the 
top of the Cumbre Nueva there is a magnificent 
view over the whole island, Santa Cruz nestling 
among the hills by the shore and in the far distance 
lie Teneriffe and Gomera. To the south is the old 
Cumbre, called Vieja in contradistinction to its 
newer neighbour ; from one of its heights a stream 
of lava is said to have descended in 1585, which is 
probably the last occasion on which the volcano 
showed any activity. The dense vegetation cover- 
ing some of the streams of lava speaks for itself of 
their great age, as it is said that not a particle of 
vegetation appears on lava until it has had four 
centuries in which to grow cold, and then the first 



142 



CANARY ISLANDS 



sign of returning life is a peculiar lichen which 
appears on the heaps of lava. The great mountain 
of Time, whose black and forbidding precipice 
overhangs the Barranco de las Augustias, makes 
many a traveller wonder who first had the courage 
to make a path, steep and narrow though it is, 
down the face of the rock. Possibly the goatherds, 
pastois, first learnt the lie of the land, swinging 
themselves on their lanzas or long spiked poles 
from rock to rock with surprising agility, and then 
others not trained to this strange mode of pro- 
gression made the paved track. 

On the western slopes the pine woods soon com- 
mence, the splendid trees increasing in size until the 
sacred Pino de la Virgen is reached — a giant whose 
trunk measures some 25 ft. round. Hardly a 
traveller passes the shrine at its foot without drop- 
ping a coin, however humble, into the money-box 
which is kept for its support. How long the pine 
has been regarded as a holy tree, or for how many 
generations the lamp has been lighted nightly, I 
know not; but in 1830 Berthelot wrote: "This 
beautiful tree, said to be a contemporary of the 
Conquest, shows no sign of age ; a little statue of 
the Virgin has been placed in the first fork of its 



LA PALMA 



143 



branches ; every evening the woodcutters of the 
neighbourhood come silently and reverently to 
light the little lamp which hangs above the sacred 
image. At dusk, if one passes near the Pino Santo, 
this lamp, which shines alone in the depth of the 
forest, casting shadows on the leafy bower which 
protects this mysterious shrine, inspires one with a 
sense of deep feeling and dread. The presence 
of this tree, which has been made sacred and en- 
dowed with mysterious powers, caused me to feel 
for it the very greatest veneration." 

Though the little village of El Paso is situated 
somewhat nearer to the Gran Caldera, few travellers 
stop there, as it does not boast of an inn, however 
humble, and to be taken as a " paying guest " does 
not appeal to many people. It is better to push on 
to Los Llanos, a pleasant village reached by a road 
from Tazaconte, which runs through orange groves, 
where in spring the air is heavy and sickly with the 
scent of the blossom, and then passing through 
almond groves and orchards of every kind of fruit 
tree, so to the very last the beauty of road is kept 
up, and the traveller is well repaid. 

Though the expedition to the Gran Caldera is 
always described as a tiring one, the natives would 



144 



CANARY ISLANDS 



feel deeply hurt if any visitor to their island did 
not go to see their mighty crater. It is indeed 
mighty — a vast basin, measuring in places four to 
five miles across, and some 6500 to 7000 ft. deep ; 
its very size makes it difficult to realise that it is a 
crater, and it might easily be regarded as merely a 
deep hollow among the mountains. Though its- 
walls are great bare grey crags, the pine woods 
which clothe the lower slopes of the hills which 
rise from the bottom of the crater, in places the 
bottom itself being clothed with trees, make it all 
the less like an ordinary crater. Great deep ravines 
tear the base, and these in their turn have become 
pine woods, carpeted with soft and slippery pine 
needles which for centuries possibly have lain 
undisturbed. The Caldera is recommended as a 
camping-ground, as water, which in Palma is scarce, 
is to be found ; in fact, innocent-looking dry stony 
beds may through rainy weather on the higher land 
suddenly become a roaring stream. Some people 
might think it too inaccessible a spot, but the 
solitude, and the sound of the wind whispering 
among the pines, would appeal to many. That 
the depth of the crater has altered since a bygone 
age is evident, as caves of the Haouarythes, the 



LA PALMA 



145 



aboriginal inhabitants of La Palma, are now abso- 
lutely inaccessible ; nothing but a bird could reach 
the entrance to them. The action of water is said 
to account for this ; possibly underground streams 
broke loose after a plutonic effort and upheaval of 
the volcano, and the upper crust subsided. 

Peasants are still to be seen wearing the peculiar 
hood or montera made of dark brown woollen 
cloth lined with red flannel, in shape like a sou'- 
wester, turned up in front fitting closely to the 
head, the flap hanging behind lined with red, or 
sometimes if the flap is not required as a protection 
against the weather the corners are buttoned over 
the peak in front. The mantas, blanket cloaks, are 
all made of wool woven in the island. These are 
both articles of men's dress. The women's caps 
have no flaps, and are very ugly, and the picturesque 
dress which survived for a time in Brena Baja is 
now extinct altogether, as are also the tiny round 
hats made from the pith of the palm. 



XII 



GOMERA 

Gomera is seldom visited by tourists, but a flying 
visit can be paid to it during the stay of the inter- 
insular boat which plies between the islands. In 
summer its higher land and woods would be an 
ideal camping-ground for a traveller with tents, and 
the climate is said to be very good. The soil 
appears to be extremely rich and well repays the 
cultivator, but the Cumbres are still clad with 
beautiful woods, which up to now have escaped 
from the destructive charcoal-burners. The soil of 
the island is volcanic, but it is one of the few of the 
group which cannot boast of an old crater, and the 
highest point is only about 4400 ft. A remarkable 
feature of the vegetation is the entire absence of 
pines ; there are none at the present time, and old 
historians always comment on their absence. This in 
itself showed ancient writers the approximate height 
of the island, as nowhere is the native Pinus 

146 



GOMERA 



147 



canariensis found in its natural conditions under 
4000 ft. above sea level, while in the region below 
that altitude Erica arborea flourishes. In Gomera 
the heaths attain larger dimensions than in any- 
other island, and grow into real trees, and on the 
beautiful expedition from San Sebastian, the port, 
to Valle Hermoso (the Beautiful Valley), which 
appears well to deserve its name, the traveller 
passes through a succession of well-watered and 
wooded country and lovely forest scenery, said to 
be unsurpassed in the Canaries. San Sebastian was 
formerly of more importance than it is now, as in 
old days its naturally sheltered harbour was much 
valued by navigators. 

It was probably for this reason that it became 
the favourite anchorage of Christopher Columbus 
on his voyages of discovery. He first called at 
Puerto de la Luz, in Grand Canary, in order to 
repair the damage done to one of his fleet, but 
leaving his lieutenant in charge of the damaged 
ship, Columbus himself sailed to Gomera on 
August 12, 1492. On this occasion he stayed for 
eleven days, returning to Grand Canary to pick 
up La Pinta, but he again called at Gomera on 
September 1. He appears to have spent a week 



148 



CANARY ISLANDS 



in storing provisions, and several sailors from 
Gomera joined his expedition. On his second 
voyage he returned to his old anchorage, this time 
again picking up sailors, and as he had a much 
larger fleet of vessels under his command, besides 
plants and seeds he embarked cows, sheep, goats, 
pigs and chickens, all of which he wished to intro- 
duce to the country he had already discovered, a fact 
which has been of great interest to zoologists who 
had been puzzled to determine the true race of 
many animals found in the West Indies. Twice 
again he visited Gomera, so there is no doubt it 
was his favourite port of call. Some old historians 
assert that for a time he lived in Gomera. At San 
Sebastian an old house is still pointed out as having 
belonged to him. After his marriage in Lisbon 
with a daughter of the Portuguese navigator 
Perestrello, for some years little seems to be known 
of the admiral's doings. The inhabitants of Madeira 
claim that he lived in a house in Funchal, while 
other writers affirm that he lived in Gomera and 
speak of his return to " his old domicile " after one 
of his voyages. 

In old days the inhabitants were called 
Ghomerythes, and after the conquest of the 



SAN SEBASTIAN 



GOMERA 



149 



island by the Spaniards, which did not prove 
a difficult matter, as though the islanders were 
a brave little band they knew little or nothing 
of the art of warfare, the conquerors enlisted 
the services of the natives to help them in 
attacking the other islands. The island was not 
left entirely undisturbed even after the conquest, 
as Sir Francis Drake made several attempts to 
take the island in 1585, and five years later a 
Dutch fleet under Vanderdoes invaded the town. 
On the walls of the quaint old church in San 
Sebastian are paintings showing the repulse of 
the Dutch fleet in the harbour in 1599. The 
Moors in the seventeenth century attacked and 
burnt a great part of the town. 

A peculiarity of the island is the strange whist- 
ling language, which probably in ancient times 
was in universal practice, but is now more or less 
confined to one district, the neighbourhood of the 
Montana de Chipude, being very rarely used by 
the natives in San Sebastian, who have most of 
them lost the art. The best whistlers can make 
themselves heard for three or four miles, and in 
the whistling district all messages are sent in this 
way, which no doubt is of the greatest convenience 



150 



CANARY ISLANDS 



where telegrams are unknown and deep bar?~ancos 
separate one village from another. The greatest 
adepts in the art do not use their fingers at all, and 
by mere intonations and variations of two or three 
notes a sufficiently elaborate language has been 
invented to enable a conversation to be carried on. 
The following may possibly be a traveller's tale, but 
it shows the use which can be made of the language : 
"A landed proprietor from San Sebastian with 
farms in the south took lessons secretly. The next 
time he visited his tenants he heard his approach 
heralded from hill to hill, instructions being given 
to hide a cow here or a pig there, and so on, in 
order that he should not claim his medias or share 
of the same." The writer of the above himself 
heard the following short message given : " There 
is a caballei'o here who wants a letter taken to San 
Sebastian. Tell Fulano to take this place on his 
way and fetch it." This was at once understood 
and acted upon. If any doubt is held as to the 
accuracy of the message, the answer comes to 
repeat, and when understood the receiver answers 
back, "Aye, aye." It is to be hoped that the 
practice will not entirely die out, as I believe the 
whistling language of Gomera is unique. 



XIII 



FUERTE VENTURA, LANZAROTE 
AND HIERRO 

The three islands of Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, and 
Hierro, complete the group of seven Fortunate 
Isles, as the little satellites of Graciosa, Alegranza, 
Montana Clara, are hardly more than large rocks, 
uninhabited and only visited occasionally by fisher- 
men. 

Fuerteventura, though by no means a very 
small island, being over 60 miles long and about 
18 miles broad, has remained in a primitive and 
unexploited condition, because in spite of the 
fertility of the soil, which is said to be remarkable, 
the scarcity of water is great and the inhabitants 
are entirely dependent on the rainfall. In a good 
year, namely a rainy year, the island grows a very 
good wheat crop, almost larger than that of any 
other island, but the absence of fresh-water springs, 
or the apathy of the natives in not making use of 

151 



152 



CANARY ISLANDS 



what there are, has prevented any agricultural 
development. The island has no pine forest and 
trees are scarce : great parts of it are barren, sandy 
and rocky plains, and the little vegetation there is, 
is said to resemble that which is found in certain 
parts of the northern deserts of Africa. Its highest 
point is only about 2700 ft. and is called Orejas 
de Asno (Ass's Ears), situated in the sandy peninsula 
at the extreme south of the island. At the 
present time travellers are warned that drinking 
water is scarce, nasty, and frequently has to be 
paid for. Whether the island is even drier than 
it was at the beginning of last century I know not, 
but Berthelot and his companion remark that 
there were many good springs, which even in July, 
the driest month, were cool and clear, but were 
allowed to waste themselves, no trouble being 
taken to collect the water either for irrigation or 
domestic use. 

Both Fuerteventura and the neighbouring island 
of Lanzarote are given a distinctly African 
appearance by the extensive use of camels as 
beasts of locomotion and burden, donkeys even 
being comparatively uncommon and difficult 
to procure, so communication between the 



A SPANISH GARDEN 



FUERTE VENTURA, LANZAROTE, HIERRO 153 

villages is almost entirely carried on by means of 
camels. 

Lanzarote received its name from a corruption 
of the Christian name of a Genoese, Captain 
Lancelot de Malvoisel, and in the old Medici map 
the island is marked with the Genoese coat of 
arms to show that it belonged to that town. 

Though not as near the African coast as Fuerte- 
ventura, which is only about 60 miles from Cape 
Juby, the island is very African in aspect in 
places, the camels, the vast stretches of blown 
sand and the absence of vegetation being suggestive 
of the Sahara. 

The few springs in the north of the island are 
utilised for growing crops of wheat and tomatoes, 
but are not of sufficient size to allow of any 
extensive plan of irrigation, and in the south the 
inhabitants depend entirely on rain water. 

Lanzarote is almost the most volcanic of all the 
islands, and between 1730 and 1737 no fewer than 
twenty-five new craters opened, so it is not to be 
wondered at that the inhabitants were much 
alarmed when fresh disturbances were felt in the 
summer of 1824. In a series of letters written by 
Don Augustin Cabrera, an inhabitant of the island 



154 CANARY ISLANDS 

at the time, an excellent account is given of the 
eruptions. A slight earthquake preceded the 
sudden appearance of a new crater in the early 
morning of July 1, 1824, in the neighbourhood of 
Tao, in the centre of a plain. The crater, which 
at first had the appearance of a great crevasse, 
emitted showers of sand and red hot stones, and 
did great damage to the surrounding country, 
destroying some most valuable reservoirs, and it 
was even feared that Tiagua, though a long distance 
away, would be destroyed, as a montaneta in the 
district began to smoke. On September 16, the 
writer says that after eighteen hours the crater 
had ceased its shower of hot ashes, but a dense 
column of smoke spouted forth, and the rumbling 
could be heard for miles round, and from the 
montaneta, which at first had only smoked, came a 
torrent of boiling water. " Yesterday," says the 
writer, " after there had been comparative quiet for 
some time, a loud noise was heard, and the boiling 
water spouted forth in torrents. At times there is 
dense smoke, which clears away, and then comes 
the water again." Writing in October he gives a 
most graphic and alarming account of an eruption 
on September 29, when the volcano burst through 



FUERTEVENTURA, LANZAROTE, HIERRO 155 



the lava deposit of 1730, and flaming torrents 
flowed down to the sea. A noise like loud thunder 
had continued unceasingly, and prevented the 
inhabitants from sleeping, even many miles away. 
No wonder they dreaded a repetition of the 
disasters of 1730-37, as in two months two new 
craters had opened. On October 18 another letter 
says : " There is no doubt a furnace is under our 
feet. For twelve days the volcano had appeared 
dead, though frequent shocks of earthquake warned 
us such was not the case, and true enough yesterday 
the volcano burst through a bed of lava in the 
centre of a great plain, sending up into the air a 
column of boiling water 150 ft. high." It is also 
said that for several days the heat was suffocating, 
and sailors could scarcely see the island because of 
the dense mist. 

The island has been a source of the deepest in- 
terest to geologists, and both M. Buch and Webb 
and Berthelot visited it between 1820-38, spending 
many weeks in the island. Few travellers seem 
to find their way there now, as there is no 
port and no mole passengers have to be carried 
ashore. 

The little island of Graciosa, only five miles long 



156 



CANARY ISLANDS 



and a mile broad, separated from Lanzarote by the 
narrow strait of El Rio, is a broad stretch of sand 
covered with shells, but the three principal cones 
in the island are said to be volcanic, and show the 
origin of the island. After autumn rains, the sand 
is covered with herbaceous plants, and in old days 
the inhabitants of the north of Lanzarote used to 
transport their cattle to feed there. 

Montana Clara, hardly more than a rock some 
300 ft. high, lies to the north of Graciosa, and Alle- 
granza, the "Joy" of Bethencourt, as it was the 
first soil on which he set foot, is to the north again, 
and is really the first island of the Canary Archi- 
pelago, so it consequently boasts of a lighthouse. 
The possession of the island in old days was a 
matter of much dispute, as the feathers of a bird 
(Larus Marinus) were very valuable, and nearly 
as profitable as the down of the eider ; also puffins, 
which existed here in vast numbers, were salted 
and sold, and now a small amount of fish-curing is 
done on the island at certain seasons. The greater 
part of the island is taken up by a crater of con- 
siderable extent, so even this tiny island is not 
without its Gran Caldera. 

Hierro, the Isle of Iron, is to the extreme south- 



FUERTEVENTURA, LANZAROTE, HIERRO 157 

west of the Canary Archipelago, and for several 
centuries was probably regarded by ancient navi- 
gators as the most western point in the world — 
beyond lay the unknown. The name is a corrup- 
tion by the Spaniards of the word heres, which in 
the language of the original Ben-bachirs, whose 
name was in its turn changed to Bembachos, meant 
a small reservoir or tank for collecting rain water. 
As the island is almost entirely dependent on the 
rainfall these tanks were of the greatest value to 
the natives, and in old records it is stated that a 
here was much more valued in a marriage settle- 
ment than land. The theory that the island was 
called hierro, meaning iron, because of the presence 
of the metal in the island is not much regarded, 
as we are especially told by old historians that 
when Bethencourt attacked the island the natives 
were armed with lances which had not iron 
heads, and the historian adds, the only iron these 
natives knew was from the chains of their 
oppressors, who appear to have treated them with 
great cruelty. 

The excessive moisture of the air and the pre- 
sence of a fair amount of wooded country which 
attracts the moisture, enables the flocks of sheep 



158 



CANARY ISLANDS 



to live on the natural vegetation. The only water 
they get is from eating leaves of plants when 
saturated with dew, their principal fodder being 
the leaves and even roots of asphodel, also 
mulberry and fig leaves. Hierro is especially 
celebrated for its figs, which are the best grown in 
any of the islands, and extremely free fruiting. One 
tree alone may bear 400 lb. of fruit. 

The best-known springs are those of Los 
Llanillos, which furnishes the best drinking water 
in the islands, being said to be always clear and 
cold, and the spring of Sabinosa. The latter is 
warm, smells of sulphur, and has a bitter taste 
and medicinal properties. One of Bethencourt's 
chaplains mentions that it has a great merit: 
" When you have eaten till you can eat no more, 
you then drink a glass of this water, and after an 
hour all the meat is digested, and you feel just as 
hungry as you did before you began, and can begin 
all over again ! " 

There is no sea-port village, the landing-place 
consisting merely of a small cove sheltered by 
masses of fallen rock, and the little capital of 
Valverde lies two hours distant on foot. As prac- 
tically no accommodation is to be relied on, those 



FUERTEVENTURA, LANZAROTE, HIERRO 159 



who are bent on exploring the island are recom- 
mended to provide themselves with a tent. The 
vegetation is said to be of great interest to botanists, 
and they appear to be the only travellers who ever 
visit the island. 



XIV 



HISTORICAL SKETCH 

Few people, until they are proposing to pay a visit 
to the " Fortunate Islands," a name by which the 
group of seven Canary Islands seems to have been 
known since very early days, ever trouble them- 
selves to learn anything of their history. Beyond 
the fact that they belong to Spain, a piece of 
information probably surviving from their school- 
room days, they have never troubled their heads 
about them, and I have known a look of surprise 
come over the face of an Englishwoman on hearing 
a Spaniard mention a fact which probably dated 
" from before the Conquest, quite five centuries 
ago," entirely forgetting that "the Conquest" 
could mean anything but the English conquest, 
instead of the conquest of the Canary Islands by 
the Spaniards at the latter end of the fifteenth 
century. 

Possibly the reason that so few authentic records 

160 



HISTORICAL SKETCH 



161 



remain of their ancient history is that though the 
outlying islands of the group are only some 80 or 
100 miles from the African coast, still they were on 
the extreme limit of the ancient world. The 
various theories that they were really the home 
of the Hesperides, or the garden of Atlas, King of 
Mauretania, where the golden apple was guarded 
by the dragon, the Peak being the Mount Atlas 
of mythology, or again that they were merely 
the remains of the sunken continent of Atlantis, 
can never really be settled, but it seems almost 
certain that they were not entirely unknown to 
the ancients. The fact that Homer mentions an 
island " beyond the Pillars of Hercules," as the 
Straits of Gibraltar were called, has caused the 
adoption of the Pillars of Hercules, with a small 
island in the distance surmounted with Oce ano, 
as one of the coats of arms of the Islands, though 
the more correct one appears to be the two large 
dogs (because of the two native dogs which were 
taken back to King Juba about 50 B.C., when 
he sent ships from Mauretania to inspect Canaria) 
supporting a shield on which is depicted the seven 
islands. Herodotus in his description of the 
countries beyond Libya says that, " the world ends 



162 



CANARY ISLANDS 



where the sea is no longer navigable, in that place 
where are the gardens of the Hesperides, where 
Atlas supports the sky on a mountain as conical as 
a cylinder." Hesiod says that " Jupiter sent dead 
heroes to the end of the world, to the Fortunate 
Islands, which are in the middle of the ocean." 
There is no doubt that the Romans, on re-dis- 
covering the Islands, christened them Insulos 
Fortunatce, which name has clung to them ever 
since. 

Pliny, in writing about the islands, quotes the 
statements of Juba, who said the islands were placed 
at the extreme limit of the world, and were per- 
petually clothed with fire. 

It is unfortunate that the Spaniards, when they 
conquered the islands, took no trouble to preserve 
any of their ancient records, and as the natives 
could not write, any history which might have been 
handed down from generation to generation was 
entirely lost. For this reason very little is known 
for certain as to what happened to the islands in the 
Middle Ages, though they appear to be mentioned 
by an Arabian geographer in the early part of the 
twelfth century, who writes of " the island of the 
two magician brothers, Cheram and Clerham, from 



HISTORICAL SKETCH 



16S 



which, in clear weather, smoke could be seen issu- 
ing from the African coast." Various European 
countries, having heard tales of islands beyond the 
seas, appear to have made efforts to conquer them. 
The fate of the Genoese expedition in a.d. 1291 is 
not known, and though the French are said to have 
" discovered" them in 1330, it was the Portuguese 
who took advantage of this discovery, and a few 
years later sent an expedition to conquer them. 
They met with no success, and were repulsed by 
the inhabitants of Gomera, and though they made 
yet another attempt after a few years, it appears to 
have been without result. 

No doubt the comparative peace which reigned 
in the islands for so long was owing to the fact that 
Europe was too much occupied with civil wars and 
crusades, to explore and conquer far-off lands, but 
during the fourteenth century a French nobleman of 
Spanish extraction was made " King of the Fortu- 
nate Islands " by the Pope, and told to Christianise 
them in the best way he could. Nothing much seems 
to have come of these instructions, though some 
missionaries were no doubt sent to Grand Canary. 

The conquest of the islands seems to have 
occupied the Spaniards for nearly a century, as in 



164 



CANARY ISLANDS 



1402 we read of Jean de Bethencourt (a name still 
common in the islands), who fitted out a ship for 
the purpose of conquering them and settling there. 
Lanzarote was peaceably occupied, as its fighting 
population was small, but in the neighbouring island 
of Fuerteventura he was repulsed. Henry King of 
Castille provided reinforcements, and, on condition 
that the Archipelago should be annexed in his name, 
Bethencourt was to be made " Lord of the Isles " of 
four of the group. The four smaller islands were 
soon brought under subjection — Fuerteventura, 
Lanzarote, Gomera, and Hierro ; in fact, in some 
of the islands the newcomers were welcomed. The 
three larger islands — Canary, Teneriffe, and La 
Palma — proved a more serious undertaking, and 
the invaders being stoutly resisted and lacking in 
forces, their conquest was for a time abandoned, 
and Bethencourt did not live to see them subju- 
gated. His nephew sold his rights to the Portu- 
guese, which complicated matters. It was not 
until 1464 that any determined attack was again 
made, though Spanish troops had made an unsuc- 
cessful attempt to conquer La Palma some ten 
years previously. 

The Lord of Gomera, Diego de Herrera, made 



HISTORICAL SKETCH 



165 



most determined attacks in 1464, beginning unsuc- 
cessfully in Canary ; but in the same year he again 
collected his forces and attacked Teneriffe, landing 
at Santa Cruz. Don Diego, having been driven 
into a corner by the Canarios, sent his son-in-law, 
Diego da Silva, to make a counter-attack. He 
fared no better, and escape being cut off, offered to 
surrender, but quarter was denied. By a stratagem 
a Canario leader was seized as a hostage, and Silva 
demanded free passage to his ship, which was 
granted. Silva had misgivings as to the sincerity 
of the Canarios, and apparently was so glad to escape 
with his life, that when he arrived at his ship he 
and all his men voluntarily gave up their arms, and 
vowed never again to fight the Canarios — a vow 
which Silva, at any rate, kept, in spite of the 
indignation of Diego. Some of the men broke 
their promise, and joined Diego's attacking forces 
again ; and on being taken prisoners by the natives, 
instead of being put to death were condemned to 
spend their lives in brushing away flies, as execution 
was too high an honour for such base creatures. 

Some years after, the "fly-flappers" were set at 
liberty, as Diego succeeded in making a treaty 
with the Canarios ; but the island was far from 



166 



CANARY ISLANDS 



being conquered, and still offered stout resistance, 
though the Spaniards seem by now to have deter- 
mined not to let such a prize escape them. Rein- 
forcements came from Spain, and a small body of 
cavalry, we are told, terrorised the natives, and 
though the Portuguese interfered on behalf of the 
Canarios, the Spaniards now got a footing in the 
island in the year 1478, during the reign of 
Ferdinand V. of Castille. 

After many unsuccessful attacks from the other 
islands, it fell to the lot of Don Alonso de Lugo 
to complete the work of Jean de Bethencourt. 
" De Lugo el Conquistador, and afterwards 
Governor of the Province of the Canaries, was a 
Galician nobleman, who had served with distinc- 
tion against the Moors in the conquest of Granada, 
and had been presented with the valley of Ageste 
(Canary) in return for his services. Whilst there 
he conceived the capture of TenerifFe and of La 
Palma, reconnoitring their coasts and acquainting 
himself with their geographical features." 

Helped by the inhabitants of Gomera, who by 
this time had become accustomed to the rule 
of the conquerors, De Lugo made a desperate 
though unsuccessful attempt in 1491 to conquer 



HISTORICAL SKETCH 



167 



La Palma, which had remained in comparative 
peace for over half a century. It was not till 
1492, after months of desperate fighting, that he 
succeeded in subduing the island and adding it as 
a prize to the dominions of Spain. 

A year later he turned his attention to Teneriffe 
and landed at Afiaza (Santa Cruz). He hoped that 
quarrels among the Guanches might be in his 
favour, but after a considerable number of his 
men had been cut to pieces at Matanza (Place of 
Slaughter) he was forced to retire, and after a 
year's fighting evacuated the island, until rein- 
forcements were sent to him. Before the close 
of the same year he returned to the attack, and 
desperate resistance was met with in the district 
of La Laguna. The Guanches, though successful 
in keeping the invaders at bay, were much dis- 
couraged by losing several of their leaders, and 
began to quarrel among themselves ; how long 
they might still have held out it is impossible to 
know, but Providence seems at this moment to 
have come to the help of the Spaniards. 

The disease known as Modorra, possibly some 
form of typhus fever, broke out among the Guanches. 
Old writings describe this disease as being most 



168 



CANARY ISLANDS 



malignant and mysterious, and its effects among 
the natives were appalling. The Spaniards re- 
mained immune, but I should think it was not 
without qualms that they watched the ghastly 
destruction of their foes, who appear to have been 
seized with hopeless melancholia, lost all wish to 
live, and wandered about listlessly in troops or laid 
down in caves to die. One writer says : " Even at 
the present day such retreats are occasionally dis- 
covered, little heaps of bones or seated skeletons 
marking the spot where the despairing victims sank 
to rise no more. It is said that some Spaniards, 
reconnoitring on the road to La Laguna, met an 
old woman seated alone on the Montana de Taco, 
who waved them on, bidding them go in and 
occupy that charnel-house where none were left 
to offer opposition." 

De Lugo seems to have passed through the 
district of the modorra, but met with resistance 
in the valley of Orotava, where the Mencey of 
Taoro (the old name of Villa Orotava) advanced to 
meet him with a considerable force. Another 
sanguinary engagement took place at La Victoria 
and the invaders again had to retreat. The 
modorra still raged, and in 1496 the site of the 



HISTORICAL SKETCH 



169 



present villages of Realejo Alto and Bajo, in the 
valley of Orotava, was the scene of the final 
capitulation of the Guanches, worn out by illness 
and perpetual righting. 

It is not altogether surprising that other 
countries looked rather longingly at Spain's new 
possession, and both their Portuguese neighbours 
and the Moors made one or two feeble attempts to 
claim them. 

England was not above making several attacks 
on the Islands. One unsuccessful expedition 
commanded by Sir Francis Drake was repulsed at 
Las Palmas in 1595, and about sixty years later Sir 
Robert Blake, in command of 36 vessels, attacked 
Santa Cruz, in Teneriffe, but beyond destroying 
forts, the shipping in the harbour, and sinking 
some treasure galleons, he does not seem to have 
done much. The English again disturbed the 
peace of the islanders in 1743, but Admiral 
Nelsons attack of Santa Cruz in 1797 is the one 
which is of principal interest to the English, from 
the fact probably that it was Nelson's one defeat, 
and here also he lost his arm. To this day 
Nelson's two flags are carefully preserved in glass 
cases on the walls of the Iglesia de la Concepcion 



170 



CANARY ISLANDS 



and are an object of great interest to many English 
travellers. The news that a galleon laden with 
treasure had arrived in Santa Cruz reached 
Admiral Jervis during the blockade of Cadiz, and 
he at once ordered Vice- Admiral Nelson, in 
command of 1500 men and 393 guns, to proceed 
to Teneriffe to secure the coveted prize. The 
Spanish authorities were formally demanded to 
deliver up the treasure on July 20, 1797, and 
not unnaturally refused. The town seems to have 
been strongly garrisoned, and Nelson, hampered by 
an unfavourable wind, made unavailing attempts to 
land and draw the soldiers from their forts. Under 
cover of darkness 700 men succeeded in getting 
close to the mole before the enemy discovered 
them, but soon a deadly fire was opened upon 
them, and several of the boats were sunk. Nelson 
had no sooner set foot on the jetty than his arm 
was shattered by a cannon ball. Incapacitated 
though he was by pain and loss of blood, directly 
he got back alongside his ship his first thought was 
for the men who had been left behind, and orders 
were at once given for the boat to go back to their 
assistance. The men who had succeeded in land- 
ing on the mole, encouraged by repulsing the enemy 



HISTORICAL SKETCH 



171 



and spiking their guns, made a desperate attempt 
to attack the town. Their opponents were too 
numerous for this brave little band, and the guns 
from the Fort of San Christobal killed the greater 
number of their officers and wounded the rest ; the 
survivors retreated in good order after holding their 
position on the mole nearly all night. In con- 
sequence of the darkness a party under Captain 
Trowbridge became separated and eventually landed 
at the other side of the town, and took possession 
of the old Dominican Monastery. Taking it for 
granted that Nelson's party were in possession of 
the mole, and advancing to meet them, Trowbridge 
demanded the surrender of the fort, only to find 
that his enemy and not his friends were the victors. 
Eventually, seeing that success was impossible, he 
asked for permission to leave the town with al. 
arms, and promised not to attack any part of the 
Canaries, or in the event of these conditions being 
refused he threatened to burn and sack the town. 
It is well known in history how courteously (once 
the evacuation terms were agreed to) the Spaniards 
treated their foe. The wounded were carefully 
tended, the invaders were allowed to buy provisions, 
and presents were interchanged between the greatest 



172 



CANARY ISLANDS 



of England's Admirals and Don Antonio Gutierrez, 
the Comandante- General of the Canaries, and it is 
said that the first letter Nelson wrote with his left 
hand was to thank the Spanish general for his care 
of his wounded men. After Nelson's attack the 
Canaries appear to have remained in the undisputed 
possession of Spain, and were made a province of 
the Mother Country, Santa Cruz, Teneriffe, being 
made the capital and seat of government, somewhat 
to the annoyance of the other islands. Those who 
are really interested in the history of the conquest 
of the Islands will find that there are many histories 
written in Spanish, most of which are to be seen 
in the great public library at La Laguna. 



SKETCH MAP OF THE 

CANARY ISLANDS 



LA PAl.MA 



FUERTEVENTURA 



San canaria 



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